Gundam Apocalypse
by Maria Rocket
Summary: What if one of the gundam pilots died in the destruction of Libra? And what's the dark force lurking in the shadows...? A twisted alternate future to Gundam Wing! (1xR, 3x4, 5xS, 2xH and 6x9 implied)
1. Prelude

#### Gundam Apocalypse

by Maria Rocket

Prelude

***

It's the year After Colony 212. After years of political turmoil, the galaxy is finally at peace. Life continues as it always has, and humanity is reaching ever farther into space, heralding a new golden age. Yet, beneath the growing majesty, some old wounds remain. 

Under the cover of night, four dark figures meet inside a rusty old warehouse. Two wear military fatigues, and appear more interested in keeping a watch on their surroundings. With them is a man in a purple jacket and black slacks. He also appears concerned with their surroundings, but has most of his attention on the small figure with them.

It is a boy, no older than sixteen, with piercing blue eyes and raven black hair. Thin, yet muscular, for a frame so small. He radiates a sense of danger. He tugs on a faded green leather flight jacket, which seems to be at least one size too big for him. An old relic from an old war, such jackets are commonly donated to poor houses since the disbanded military no longer needs such surplus. Beneath that, he wears a black shirt and pants which are so worn, the fabric has torn in a number of places. On his feet, dirty black boots scuff impatiently at the ground.

"Do you have it?" The boy nearly snaps at the purple jacketed man.

"Patience. We have all waited long for this moment. Now that we are on the verge of destroying the alliance built by corrupt souls, it is only a matter of time until the true vision comes to pass."

"No one has waited as long as I have," the boy whispers passionately. "I've waited my entire life. I swear, I'll kill Heero Yuy and bring everything he holds dear to its knees!" His fists clench and tremble.

"Indeed," the purple jacketed man narrows his eyes and smiles. "You have made this all possible for us, after all. Not only will our goals be realized, but you will get the vengence that is rightfully yours." He lays a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Now, there it is, in that warehouse.

His hand is pushed away as the boy bolts for the warehouse. The boy runs inside, then halts abruptly, staring up in wonder. There in front of him is a huge ebony mobile suit. Streaks of red pierce through the deadly design. This is not just any mobile suit. It is a gundam.

The boy's legs weaken at the sight, and he falls to his knees. "It's really... It's finished! Gundam Apocalypse..."

"Yes," the man nods. "Based on the blueprints you gave us, and enhanced with updated technology, we were able to create a whole new gundam, more powerful than anything that ever came before it. I hear it even has a death wave with enough potential punch to wipe out an entire colony in one shot." He shifts his eyes down to the boy. "Do you really think you can pilot it?"

"Oh, I will. I was born to pilot it." The boy says grimly, and pushes himself up to his feet. "I've studied these things inside and out, I know the systems in my sleep. And I haven't been training in your mobile suits and gundam simulators for the past few years for a damn joyride." He runs towards the Apocalypse on a sudden impulse. "In fact, I need to pilot it now!"

"Wait!" The purple jacketed man cries out. "You're not ready to just take off with it yet! It's too dangerous to fool with!" He holds back his soldiers as the boy suddenly stops in his tracks and spins around.

The boy tilts his head back and puts his hands on his hips, glaring defiance at the man. "Don't underestimate me. Remember, without me, your plans will never work."

The man's jaw tightens noticably. "So sure of yourself, are you, waif?" A sly smile crosses his face. "You shouldn't underestimate me, either. After all, I found you, didn't I?"

"Hmph." The boy just turns around in a swift motion, like that of a dancer, causing his long black braid to swing behind him in a curving sweep. He stands firmly, setting his cold blue eyes on the gundam towering above him. "Fine. We'll continue to do things your way. For now."

***

Two months later, in the home of Heero and Relena Peacecraft, all is relatively quiet, as they await the arrival of their old friend, Quatre Raberba Winner. A servant or two buzzes around double checking that everything is in the right order to accept such an important guest. Relena herself sits in the waiting room, fixing her hair with a few choice hairpins. Heero stands at the window, watching for Quatre's arrival. He stands perfectly still, as he often does.

Meanwhile, a small boy of seven is running up and down the halls, making as much noise as possible, knocking over the occasional object, much to the dismay of the servants. He is Duo Peacecraft, son of Heero and Relena Peacecraft. Also known to the house staff as the "Bright Whirlwind," for obvious reasons.

"Is Uncle Quatre here yet?" The bubbly boy with wild platinum blonde hair squeals as he jumps into the waiting room. He runs over and tugs at his father's leg. "Daddy, is Uncle Quatre almost here?"

Heero turns to look down at the tiny face and dark eyes that mirror his own. Except the boy's face has an almost perpetual wide smile, and wide happy eyes, which is rarely seen on the father. But for those special little eyes, Heero smiles genuinely. 

"Soon, Duo. Soon."

As he speaks, Quatre steps into the room. He smiles and raises a hand in greeting. "Hope you don't mind me slipping in like this, I didn't want to bother the servants. They all look so busy!"

Everyone in the room turns in surprise.

"Uncle Quatre!" Duo runs up joyfully.

"Hello Duo!" Quatre laughs. "My, you've grown since I last saw you!"

"Hello Quatre," Heero nods. 

"Hello," Relena greets him. "My, where did you come from? We didn't hear you arrive! Or at least I didn't," she glances over at Heero.

"Oh, that's because I walked here from the spaceport," Quatre smiles. "The country around here is just so beautiful, I couldn't bear to shuttle past it all."

"You...walked?" Relena blinks in disbelief. 

"Uncle Quatre, can we play?" Duo pleads. "I have a new model kit we can build!"

"Of course we can," Quatre laughs and kneels down to speak to him face to face. "But is it okay if I talk to your mother and father for awhile first? You know how it is with grown-ups, we need to get all the boring stuff done before we can play." He pats Duo's head and ruffles the already hopelessly disheveled hair.

Duo pouts for a moment, then nods with a happy smile. "Okay, I'll go find the glue until you finish with mom and dad!" Giggling excitedly, he rushes out of the room. A moment later, loud crashes are heard, and several voices in the direction of the kitchen curse rather loudly.

"He's such a sweet kid," Quatre chuckles and stands again. "Reminds me of when I was his age."

Relena just smiles wryly. "So how have you been, Quatre? It's been awhile since we've heard from you!" 

"Well, you know, same old grind. A few of my satellites broke down during prime time in some of the L3 colonies, and I was facing a few lawsuits for awhile there. Apparently a lot of people missed some gameshow, and they were out for blood!" Quatre smiles weakly and runs a hand through his hair. "Luckily, that's all been settled now."

"Television," Heero nods. "Some people can be very passionate about such things. I remember reading an article about brainwashing..."

"Heero," Relena interrupts with a sigh. 

"Anyway," Heero changes the subject, "how's Trowa?"

"Oh, Trowa's well. He really wanted to come," Quatre smiles. "But it seems Catherine broke her leg in some trapeze accident, so he's gone to visit and take care of her for awhile until she fully recovers."

"I'm surprised she doesn't have accidents more often," Relena notes. "Flying trapeze sounds dangerous."

"It can be," Quatre moves over to the window to take in the scenery. "But she's really quite good at it."

Heero tilts his head slightly. He is about to speak, when the nearby wallmonitor flashes to life. Onscreen is a rather concerned looking man in uniform. Heero immediately moves over to the screen.

"Is there a problem?"

"Please forgive this sudden interruption," the military man nods to Heero and Relena. Quatre watches on from the window. "But our satellites are picking up a pirated feed that I think you should see."

"Send it through," Relena orders.

"Right away."

Then the military man disappears in a flash. Then another screen appears with green static dancing through it. Heero narrows his eyes. For a moment he thinks he sees... Then the screen snaps into crystal clear focus. And Heero's eyes widen in shocked disbelief.

"Oh my...!" Relena brushes her fingertips against her mouth in surprise.

Quatre suddenly bolts over to stand beside them. "Allah...is that...it can't be...!?"

Heero's face is frozen in shock. It was impossible. Onscreen, a teenage boy with black hair, a faded green jacket, and icy blue eyes stares coldly into his very soul. Yet, the face is unmistakable.

"Duo..." Heero whispers.

"Heero Yuy," the boy begins in a restrained tone of voice. "I very much doubt you know who I am, but it would be very unwise of you to ignore my message. Over fifteen years ago, you destroyed the battleship Libra. But everyone aboard it wasn't evacuated, " His eyes are like daggers.

"No..." Heero trembled.

"You blew it up, you bastard..." The boy is visibly trembling himself now, in anguish and hatred. "The gundam pilot, Duo Maxwell was still trapped aboard. No one answered his screams of terror. Was he still screaming when you murdered him, Yuy!?"

Heero is speechless. In his mind's eye, the fireball Libra flares to life. In mere moments, it would strike the Earth dead unless he destroys it. Yet, on the Comm, he can hear Duo screaming... His heart is ripping into a million pieces, because the screaming is coming from inside the Libra...

"I wonder, how long I'll be able to keep you screaming," the boy sneers, leaning towards the screen. "Just wait, Yuy. I've been waiting a long time to make you pay for your crimes, and now that I have the means... I'm going to rip everything from you, just like you did to me."

...and Heero remembers Duo screaming at him to take out the Libra. Heero hesitates. He can still hear Duo cursing at him to do it before it's too late. He can hear Duo pleading with him now... Heero aims, and fires. At the last moment, he hears Duo's farewell. Yet his friend's final words are lost in the shockwave that assaults the Wing Zero...

"Who are you!?" Relena demands angrily of the boy. "And what means are you talking about!?" It is a useless request, as the boy can not hear or see her. A moment later, however, Relena is desperately trying to support Heero as he sinks to his knees. "Heero!"

The boy smiles without feeling. "I'm going to kill you all, Heero Yuy. Watch your back... Solo Maxwell is coming for you all! Death has a son, and his name is Apocalypse!!!"

Manical laughter fills the air, before being cut off abruptly by a hurled object smashing through the screen.


	2. Chapter 1

#### Gundam Apocalypse

by Maria Rocket

Chapter One

***

Up in the sky, there were no stars shining that night. Only a thin whisper of the moon, like a mischievious smile. What little light it gave, it shone brightly onto the woods below. Through the leafy branches, the moonlight reflected off of a black glossy surface.

The gundam Apocalypse was hidden there deep in the woods. No one had seen it arrive on Earth a few hours before. Now the giant metal monster seemed to sleep, for the time being. In it's shadow, the boy, Solo Maxwell, sat slumped over with his head tucked behind his drawn up knees and his folded arms. Only Apocalypse heard the small whimpering sounds coming from the sleeping pilot. When Solo woke up a few hours later, his face was wet.

It was always the same.

***

"Relena, you need to take Duo and leave for the coast. This is the first place that kid's going to look. He could already be out there," Heero's eyes shifted towards the windows. He appeared to have recovered from his earlier shock, but his skin was still pale.

"Heero, I'm not leaving you!" 

Relena stood firm. After receiving the shocking transmission from the boy claiming to be Duo Maxwell's son, they had learned, via another wallmonitor that Heero hadn't destroyed, that the signal had come from somewhere in the L2 colonies. It was then estimated that by that time, he could possibly already be on the Earth, though no registered passenger in any spaceport had fit the given description. Heero had immediately ordered all the servants to leave the estate until further notice.

"Relena, he's right, it's too dangerous to for you or Duo to stay here," Quatre was sitting with little Duo. "You must go!"

Duo wasn't sure what was going on, but he could tell his parents and Quatre were distressed about something. He glanced between his mother and father with large confused eyes. "Why did everyone leave? Are we going on a trip?"

"Yes Duo," Heero didn't turn away from the window. "Everyone's gone on a little vacation. You and your mother are too, on the coast."

"Yay! I love the beach! I'm going to get my swimming trunks!" Duo hopped off the couch and ran out of the room.

"Duo!" Quatre quickly followed after him.

Relena watched Quatre chase after Duo for a moment. Then she turned and walked over to Heero's unmoving side. She leaned over so she could see his face. His eyes were closed.

"I can hear him out there, Relena. I can hear him."

His wife's face softened. "You can't keep blaming yourself. Duo wouldn't want you to." She took his arm and nestled against his side. "Duo died for peace. He was willing to give his life for it, like we all were. You had no choice. If you hadn't destroyed Libra, you both would have died in vain."

"Maybe." Heero didn't stir. He was still intent on something only he could hear. "But I was there. If I had known he was there, I could have saved him."

"Heero..."

"It doesn't matter. The fact is that I'm the one who killed him." Heero opened his shadowed eyes. "And if that really is Duo's own flesh and blood out there, I need to be here when he arrives."

"Heero!" Relena roughly turned Heero around and shook him by both arms. Her eyes were bright with fear. "Don't you even think it! You don't deserve to die!" She stared into his lost gaze. "Damn you! Think of your own son! Will he have to grow up without a father as well!?"

For the first time since Solo's message, Heero's eyes focused completely on Relena. His eyes and his entire face softened with emotion. Taking her hand to his lips, he kissed it tenderly. Then he slid his arms around her and pulled her close. 

"I owe him something, Relena." Heero rested his head down against her shoulder. "I owe it to Duo as well. He wouldn't have wanted this for his son. Did you see Solo's eyes? He has nothing. Even if something should happen to me, at least our son would still have you, Quatre, and the others. It's because of me that's Solo's alone." Holding her arms, he pulled away to look down at her. "Please understand."

"Guys, there's sirens going off!" Quatre ran back in carrying a squirming Duo under his arm. 

"Sirens? But why...?" Relena frowned, trying to listen. 

"Quatre, get them away from here." Heero ordered, listening to the noise he had been tracking becoming louder. "I'll contact you as soon as I can."

"Heero!" Relena pleaded. Then she stopped, knowing it was of no use. She closed her eyes in defeat and shook her head. She looked back up. "Promise me you won't let yourself be killed."

Heero just turned his head to look at her. He was still listening. His face was nearly expressionless, but there was a softness in his eyes that Relena could easily read. He simply nodded once.

"Maybe I should stay and help," Quatre offered, setting Duo down next to Relena. "There's no telling--"

"Quatre, I'm trusting you to protect my family. Now go!" Heero turned and walked back towards the window.

Feeling for the first time that something was definitely not right, Duo stepped towards the window with a worried expression. "Daddy?"

Relena quickly scooped him up. "It's time to go, Duo. Just be still until I tell you." She ignored his questioning look as Quatre gently took her arm and led her away. She knew Heero was still watching the window even as they drove away.

***

Leaves were shaking on the trees lining the country roads. A steady tremor made its way across the forest, sending birds and animals in its wake screeching in panic. Those little creatures could barely be heard over the screaming of the emergency sirens. 

Trees, barns, and several satellite towers were destroyed by what sounded like an invisible monster. Those who had seen the phenomenon first hand described it as an enraged storm that flew past in a great roaring wind, leaving destruction in its wake. Based on these reports, the emergency siren had been sounded, warning of what was assumed to be a freak tornado.

A freak tornado that was making a beeline straight for the home of the Peacecraft family. Yet as it approached, the storm slowly dissipated, until it was perfectly quiet again. Only those in the immediate area would have heard the heavy creak of metal, or seen the ground that crushed seemingly by itself just beyond the house.

Inside, Heero could hear it. Then there was a long silence. Part of Heero was so full of pent up nerves, that he wanted to rush outside to confront whatever was there. The more rational part of him made sure he remained firmly where he stood. The last thing he needed was to rush into a delicate situation. Besides, as he had expected, he soon heard footsteps in the house.

Footsteps that entered the room. When they fell silent, Heero heard a familiar metal click. With his hands tucked into his pockets, Heero calmly turned around. He was facing an equally calm boy who was aiming a small revolver at him. Despite the high emotion Heero had seen from him earlier, Solo now appeared completely detached. Except for the tiniest shaking of the hand holding the weapon towards Heero's head.

Although he did not show it, it was all Heero could do to keep himself from rushing over to embrace the boy. Solo was nearly the splitting image of Duo, right down to the long braid. For a moment, he felt as though he had his friend back, Duo's presence in the boy was so powerful. Yet there was something missing. The smiles and the laughter were nowhere to be found. There was no resilient joy or hope in those eyes. Only the shadows remained.

Heero's dark, blue steel eyes locked onto Solo's own icy blue eyes. "So, you're Solo?"

At the sound of Heero's voice, Solo's eyes suddenly fluttered as if he were just waking up. His eyes widened slightly and he stood up straighter. It was as if the voice had broken a spell. A touch of fear crossed his features momentarily, only to be replaced by an expression Heero interpreted as repressed anger.

"Yeah. And you're Heero Yuy."

Heero shrugged. "That's what they call me."

Solo lowered his weapon slightly. "Good enough."

"Are you going to kill me?"

There was a pause.

"Of course I'm going to kill you." 

"Then what are you standing there for?"

"Don't worry, I won't make you wait too long." Solo's lips curled at the thought. "You'll be dead soon enough. And I mean to make you suffer, Yuy."

"Not a good idea," Heero closed his eyes. "Believe me, the longer you put something off, the less likely you are to follow it through."

"You don't know me."

"True." Heero opened his eyes and looked at him intently. "But I did know Duo Maxwell. He was my friend. And he was no older than you are now when he died. How can you claim to be his son?"

Solo felt uneasy. Heero was too calm for someone that knew they were going to die. He turned his head slightly, keeping his eye on him. Did he really think he could get into his head? Forget it, Yuy, he thought, I'm not afraid of you.

Holstering his weapon somewhere hidden within his jacket, Solo fell back onto one of the couches, daring Heero with his eyes to try something. Heero didn't move, however, so Solo crossed his arms and his legs as nonchalant as possible. "How dare you..." He growled beneath his breath, but not low enough to escape Heero's ear. "You've made my life hell...you've been directly and indirectly responsible for all the misery in my life...and you would try to steal my very identity away too?" He glared. "My mother's name was Hilde Schbeiker. As she told it, she and my father met and fell in love within the year before he died. In that amount of time, I'm not sure how serious they were ever able to get, but seems it was serious enough to result in me." He tugged a bit on his jacket lapels. "My mother didn't find out until she was hospitalized during the battle between the Libra and the Peacemillion. By that time, my father was out in battle again, and as you very well know, he didn't come back. ...He never knew about me."

Heero remembered Hilde. A rather small girl with blue eyes and very short black hair. The most he had seen of her was when she'd been taken onboard the Peacemillion injured from getting caught up in the battle. Duo had brought her aboard, with the darkest look that Heero had ever seen in the eyes of the self proclaimed God of Death. Though it was only noted briefly. After Duo had told him that Hilde had sighted Relena onboard Libra, Heero's thoughts had quickly become preoccupied with his own concerns.

"I have nothing to claim but my own face," Solo murmured, his eyes wandering curiously towards a large photograph just beyond Heero. Within the frame, five young boys sat on a bench. Some looked uncomfortable and reluctant, but his own eyes settled on the one with the large violet eyes mugging for the camera. The one with the long brown braid who had an arm playfully tight around the neck of another who could be none other than a younger Heero Yuy.

Heero knew what Solo was looking at. He had stared at it many times himself over the years. Solo suddenly seemed very distant, and Heero could see the loneliness in his face clearer than before. "It's okay. I believe you. If I had known, I would have been there for you and your mother."

"Mother..." Solo's face tightened. "She's been dead for nearly six years now. Times were hard after the war. She worked so hard trying to raise me on her own...so hard. One day, she simply didn't get up anymore." His face dropped to the floor. "Nothing I did would wake her up. So I ran."

Heero's fists clenched. Duo, he raged silently, couldn't you have let me know somehow? Couldn't you have prevented all this tragedy from happening? Why didn't you let me protect your own loved ones? ...Or is this your justice...working through your boy? Heero noticed Solo's harsh gaze on him again as he stood and walked away from the couch.

"It doesn't matter whether you would have been there or not. My father would still be dead, and my mother still would have died. And I'd still be here to kill you." Solo whispered. 

Heero stepped forward a few steps. He stared at him intently, searching his eyes in such a way that it made Solo step back uneasily. "Will killing me really make it better? Is that what you were born for?"

Solo parted his lips momentarily, but couldn't seem to summon the words for some reason. He just bit his lip angrily.

"I don't think so." Heero finally spoke after a long silence. He turned away and stopped before the photo Solo had been looking at. He glanced up at it. "This is wrong. Duo wouldn't want us to be enemies. Look inside yourself. You're far closer to his spirit than I am. What is he telling you?"

Solo paused. At the moment, he wasn't sure what he was feeling. Part of him desperately wanted someone to confide in, and clearly this man had been close to his father. Close enough to kill him... And all the pain of his life came surging back. He shook his head angrily. How had Heero managed to get so far beneath his skin!? "Shut up!" He spat. "Stop trying to mess with my mind! You have no idea what it is to live on the streets alone, wondering if that night will be your last! You can't imagine what I've been through all these years!"

"Can't I?" Heero turned on him coldly. "Solo, I can't bring your father back, as much as I've wanted to. I couldn't have known about you then, but I do now. If you'd let me, I'd like to bring you into my family." He stepped back slightly. "But if killing me is the only way to bring peace to you and your father, then do it now. If my death is the only thing that will bring you peace, then do not delay." A part of him flinched at his words. He prayed Relena would forgive him, but he knew his soul would never rest if he never gave rest to Duo's own.

After watching him suspiciously for a moment, Solo reached into his jacket. He withdrew his revolver and aimed it at Heero's chest. He was right. If he didn't do it now, he might not get another chance. His finger tightened on the trigger. Heero only watched him calmly. Finally, Solo cried out within, finally, this will all be ended... Just as he heard the click of the trigger, his blue eyes were suddenly caught once again by the identical dark violet ones behind Heero...

With the roar of the gun, Heero went flying back into the window, shattering it into a million shards of light. Pain wrenched through him as his body was thrown hard onto the stone pavement outside the house. Within moments, he staggered to his feet, bruised and slicked with blood and glass. Heero clenched his shot shoulder with his hand, trying to stop the blood from flowing through it. He'd almost forgotten what it was like to have a bullet wound... It hurt like hell. But he would live. Strange, he thought, I could have sworn he was aiming for my chest... Heero flung his head up and looked back through what remained of the window. 

Solo was gone. Heero closed his eyes and gritted his teeth. 

"Solo..."

***

"What the hell happened back there!?" Solo screamed at himself as the Apocalypse spun away into the sky. He hadn't expected Heero to cause him so much emotional confusion. Heero was supposed to be a cold, evil bastard he could just blow away. He wasn't supposed to be someone that cared that much. 

Solo braced himself and flew Apocalypse straight in the direction of the road he had seen on his way there. Heero had to die. He couldn't afford to be weak. The good thing was that now he could do things right. He had been too hasty. If Heero was truly to suffer, he would have to do things more carefully. And he decided that he wouldn't go near Heero again until it really was time for him to die. 

"You won't mess with my head again, Yuy. Now I'm going to make you pay for that as well." He took a deep breath, and a state of calm came over him. He was almost serene as gundam Apocalypse finally came in view of the coast.

***

Heero had been pacing, despite his injuries. It was now nightfall, and he still had no word from Quatre or Relena. He had tried contacting them, but there had been no response. It made him nervous. His hands clenched and unclenched nervously, hating the feeling of doing nothing. He wanted to run out and find Solo, but he didn't dare go anywhere until receiving word that his family was safe.

He didn't even want to think about the large indentations he'd found during his search of the property. Two huge marks in the ground that simply screamed mobile suit. It confirmed the suspiciously familiar noise he had heard before Solo had arrived. He was just surprised Solo hadn't simply destroyed the house where it stood. Or, maybe he wasn't. Heero turned his eyes once more to the photo on the wall.

"Just full of surprises, aren't you, Duo. Now, care to explain what all of this is really about?"

The smiling face in the photo kept his silence.

Then the wallmonitor beyond Heero flashed to life. Heero was there in an instant. He wasn't ready for what he saw.

Quatre, dirty and bleeding, had one hand on the monitor to support himself. His large aquamarine eyes were filled with tears. "H-Heero..." he gasped, barely able to look him in the face. 

Fear rushed through Heero's senses. "Quatre! What happened? Where's Relena and Duo!?" 

"Relena's here in the hospital, but she's going to be fine. But..." 

"Where's Duo!?"

Quatre's eyes squeezed tightly shut. "Solo's got some kind of gundam, Heero. We didn't even see it until it had ripped the car apart. We were all thrown...I-I couldn't reach him in time..." Tears streamed down his cheeks as a sob escaped his lips. 

"He took him, Heero. He's got Duo."


	3. Chapter 2

#### Gundam Apocalypse

by Maria Rocket

Chapter Two

***

Slouched back in the cockpit of gundam Apocalypse, Solo regarded the glowing screen before him with little interest. His tired ice blue eyes settled on his hand, which was slowly tapping the seat in boredom. The purple jacket wearing man on the screen in front of him, however, looked very impatient.

"Maxwell! Are you listening to me!? You've got to remember your mission! You've had more than enough time for your own little vendetta! You must strike now before it's too late!"

His lips tightening, Solo turned his eyes back towards the screen. "I can hear you perfectly, Prof. Falkner. I promise you, the mission will be underway by tonight. I swear it. There's just a few little loose ends I need to take care of."

Falkner began to protest rather loudly, but was swiftly silenced when Solo reached out and switched off the receiving monitor. The light flickered off, leaving Solo in nothing but a fading glow.

"What a nuisance..." Solo muttered, running a hand back through his messy raven black hair. The braid had come partially undone from sleeping on it. He paused a moment in thought. Then he opened the cockpit and stood.

"Speaking of which..." He shrugged his shoulders into his green jacket and stepped out of Apocalypse. Reaching up to brush aside his black bangs, he looked into the treetops. It was almost dusk, and in the deep woods, it was especially dark. Solo had better than average night vision though, and he could see his captive in the branches above. "How are you doing up there?"

Hanging by a rope was a small boy with an unruly mop of platinum blonde hair. His small form swayed slightly in the breeze, but there was no other movement. He was completely limp.

Solo raised an eyebrow up at him curiously. "Hey, kid. Wake up when I'm talkin' to you." There was no response. Solo's harsh expression cracked slightly with concern. "Kid?"

When there was still no reply, Solo jumped from the gundam, and ran over to where the rope was tied to a tree. He untied the knot and carefully lowered the boy to the ground. His chest tightened when the small form fell limp to the grass.

Beads of sweat formed on Solo's brow as he hurried to release the child from the rope. Once untied, there was still no movement. Solo took the boy's shoulders and shook him roughly. "Wake up, kid! Damn you, wake up!" His eyes widened as the boy's head rolled loosely onto his chest.

"Sweet mother..." Solo whispered. "What have I done?"

Although the boy had been ripped from a speeding vehicle, and roughly handled by both himself and his gundam, Solo hadn't honestly believed he had seriously injured him. And he hadn't given much thought to the fact that he'd been hanging there since the night before. He hadn't given much thought to any of it. What did he care for the son of Heero Yuy, who he hated with a passion? Even so, Solo now felt sick to his soul.

Without warning, the blonde boy's steely blue eyes flashed open. They were absolutely filled with terror. With a speed Solo hadn't imagined such a small boy could possibly have, his rather short leg flew out and delivered a crunching kick to the jaw. 

Crying out in pain and clutching his face, Solo fell back onto the ground. He was seeing sharp shards of light as he heard the scuff of shoes on the grass and the receding pounding of little feet. Agony still jolting through him, Solo forced himself up. This only ended him on his face. Whimpering softly despite himself, his body hunched over, shuddering with pain and anger. Internally, he cursed himself, hating himself for having allowed a little kid to get the better of him.

Suddenly, he realized that two little feet were standing in front of him. A tiny trembling hand reached out and touched his black hair. Hardly believing what they were seeing, ice blue eyes raised themselves to look into steel blue ones. Solo's lips parted slightly in questioning wonder. The boy had tried to escape...and had returned? 

Why?

"A-Are you okay?"

Solo's eyes wavered with tears suddenly, as overwhelming emotion threatened to take control. Feeling himself about to burst into tears, his brows furrowed in rage. With an anguished cry, he threw his fist out and sent a hard blow across the boy's face. He didn't watch as the boy fell sobbing to the grass. 

The braided boy finally staggered to his feet, wiping away his tears in disgust. "Damn kid! You should have run while you had the chance."

"My name's not kid," the tearful boy managed to speak in a tiny, frightened, yet defiant voice. "I'm Duo Peacecraft...and I want to go home!"

"You don't deserve that name," Solo intoned coldly, snatching Duo roughly by the front of his sweater and lifting him up. He slammed Duo against the nearest tree trunk, causing the little boy to flinch. "You're a mockery of my father's name with that bastard Yuy's face..."

Duo's eyes found his wearily. He seemed beyond fear at that moment. Solo suspected it might even be shock. "What are you going to do with me?" Duo asked.

"I'm going to kill you," Solo replied, feeling sick to his stomach as he said it. Flinching slightly at his own words, he let Duo fall to the ground. "But there's something I need to do first." He turned back to Apocalypse. "I would stay here if I were you. These woods are in the middle of nowhere, and you'd never survive out there." He paused. "However, do as you wish."

Still sitting where he was dropped, Duo watched Apocalypse lift off, leaving him in a rushing wind.

***

There was a strong scent of disinfectant overwhelming Quatre's senses as he stood beside Relena's hospital room. He felt as though he had been bathed in the stuff, after the nurses had gotten through treating his injuries. Now he waited in that sterile white hallway, wondering how Heero and Relena were doing within.

When he had first contacted Heero about the situation, he had been afraid Heero would breakdown, indeed, he had felt near one himself. And at first, the ex-gundam pilot's face had twisted into such a sheer look of agony, it had literally sent a lance of pain into Quatre's own heart. Then, Heero seemed to retreat into himself, locking himself into his old stone expression. 

Quatre sighed. Heero could try to keep his pain inside, but Quatre knew it was killing him on the inside. Then Heero had left for the coast so fast, that Quatre hadn't even had time to ask what had become of Solo. 

His aquamarine eyes shifted sadly towards the door at the sound of Relena crying again. He kicked the wall with his heel in anger. There had been nothing he could do to save Duo, but he still felt incredible guilt. I wonder if this is how Heero felt, he thought to himself as he closed his eyes.

Of course, he wasn't a father himself. So he suspected that as much as he loved Duo, he probably couldn't really imagine what Heero and Relena were going through. His thoughts drifted towards the recent problems between himself and some of his sisters. Lately they had been pressuring him for an heir to the Winner family legacy, but between himself and Trowa, it didn't look like anything that would be resolved anytime soon.

He had suggested adoption, of course. But his sisters were deadset against any but his own blood relative. Nothing he else he suggested, such as an heir from among themselves, was satisfying them, and they had even started his own lawyers in on him about it. He opened his eyes and stared over at sign that directed towards the maternity ward. 

And there was absolutely, no way, that he was going to consent to some sort of surrogate mother. The idea of hiring out some woman like that simply appalled him. It certainly wasn't the first time it had been done in his family, but it was a practice that Quatre just couldn't stomach. No, he thought to himself, I refuse to bring a child into the world by someone I don't even love, just for the sole purpose of forcing all my responsibilities onto him or her.

Still, he had to resolve the problem somehow with his sisters. They would have to come to realize what they wanted from him, the way they wanted, just wouldn't happen. It was too bad, really. Although impossible, he had often wished for a child of his own, as he openly envied Heero and Relena's dear little Duo. And he was certain Trowa would be an excellent father himself.

Trowa. Quatre pushed himself from the wall with one foot and glanced towards one the hall clocks. He really needed to call about everything that had happened...

Just then, Heero exited Relena's room.

"Heero! How is she?" Quatre noted the dark circles beneath Heero's eyes. He clearly hadn't slept any the night before. None of them had. Quatre's eyes caught Heero's numerous cuts, bruises, and the tattered clothing. When Heero had arrived, he had rushed to Relena's side so quickly that Quatre had barely time to notice. "And...Allah, just what happened back at the house!?" His eyes strayed with concern towards his shoulder. "Are you shot?"

Heero just waved a hand and nodded. 

"We'd better get a nurse...!"

"I've already taken care of it," Heero gave him a firm look. "As for Relena... she needs some time to rest. She's depressed, but I've told her I've got everything under control..."

Quatre gave him a knowing look.

"Which I clearly do not." He took Quatre by the shoulder and led him further out of earshot of the room. "Solo came to the house, Quatre. A few hours before he attacked you..." His hand tightened on Quatre's shoulder. "If I had known this was going to happen..."

"There's nothing you could have done, Heero," Quatre quietly reassured him. "I still feel horrible about it myself. I'm so very sorry... I was supposed to protect him..." Quatre closed his eyes in grief.

Heero patted his shoulder comfortingly. "I've told you, Quatre, it wasn't your fault. We don't blame you at all."

Despite Heero's words, Quatre's mood barely lifted. He turned his eyes from under his bangs and looked closely at Heero. "What did you think of Solo, Heero? Do you think he'll really hurt Duo?"

"I honestly don't know. He wants to kill, but I don't know if he's currently capable of it. You should've seen his eyes, Quatre. He's just teetering on the edge of sanity." Heero lowered his voice. "He reminds me a lot of myself when I was his age. And that scares me."

Quatre just stared at him in amazement. He had never heard Heero admit to being afraid of anything aloud before. 

"He tried to kill me," Heero continued. "But I don't think he could do it. Maybe it was Duo watching over me, who knows. With that boy in the room, his presence was incredible." He looked up at Quatre. "I have to find him, before he harms Duo, or himself."

***

Dusk was setting over the vast fields of communication buildings. It was like a town. The people who worked there also lived there with their families, casually moving through life in the streets below, and buzzing with activity in the towers above. Years ago places such as these had doubled as military bases, but since the end of the war, all official military had been reduced to nothing more than titles.

One small time official in particular was spending his last hours of the day watching the sunset. As he leaned over the building railing, however, he noticed the sunlight warp eerily in the sky.

"Huh?" He watched as darkness flowed from out of nowhere, until it formed something huge with bat-like wings. His mouth dropped open and he went stumbling backwards. He hadn't seen anything like that in years... "Oh my god..."

An alarm sounded out over the entire complex. The monster in the sky had been spotted as it landed in the midst of the base. There was no defense, though. Nothing could stop the gundam as it began to glow with a terrific light that burst from all around its wings like a giant shockwave. It expanded away from the gundam in huge concentric circles. A tremendous rumble followed and the landscape shimmered. It was as if everything was converted into light. When the light finally faded, everything was nothing more than fine dust.

Gundam Apocalypse stood in the wasteland, like an eternal zombie. Within, it's pilot lay slumped over the controls. He had been the last witness to see the people scattering in the street, screaming. The last witness to the school children who had been staring in innocent wonder. And he had been the last to cry as they all disappeared from sight forever. His form shuddered. He hadn't expected it to be like that.

And he had used only a fraction of the gundam's actual power. He didn't want to think what might happen if he used it at full power. He didn't want to think about how many innocent people had just died. And for what they had died for...Solo couldn't help but question in his heart.

"I hope this makes him happy..." Solo mumbled as he pushed himself back up. He couldn't stand himself. He had waited so long...and now that everything was at his fingertips, he wasn't doing anything right. Or feeling the way he was supposed to. Something inside him had changed somehow, but he wasn't sure how it had happened. 

Why am I doing this, he asked himself. I'm supposed to be using Prof. Falkner, not the other way around. Why should I pull myself out of shape for his crazy ideas? This is wrong. This shouldn't have happened. There was a cold place in the pit of his stomach as he realized that his decision had come at the expense of all the dust around him that had once been alive. They had all died needlessly. He was no better...no better than Yuy. He clenched the controls, fighting the urge to throw up what little he'd eaten in the last twenty-four hours.

Fleeing back into the sky, feeling like a fool, Solo wondered what Prof. Falkner might say when he discovered that he'd quit after only one strike. He'd have a fit, there was no doubt about that. But Solo had made up his mind. Now that he had the gundam, he didn't have to do anything Prof. Falkner told him to do anymore. If there was to be any new world order, Prof. Falkner could do his own dirty work. 

"I've got enough to worry about," Solo frowned as he went spinnng off into the horizon. He didn't bother cloaking the Apocalypse as night fell once more.

***

As he landed back in his hiding spot in the woods, Solo noticed the blinking red light on the control board. Prof. Falkner was trying to contact him. Solo had expected he'd be hearing from him when most of the communication bases turned up still intact. Ignoring it, he switched off Apocalypse's systems and ventured outside.

Stretching, he checked the woods around him for signs of Duo. As he had expected, the area was deserted. "Mmm..." He wasn't sure if he glad the boy was gone or not. On a whim, Solo reached into his pocket and pulled out two oranges he'd gathered in an orchard on his way back. He tossed them out onto the grass and walked over into Apocalypse's shadow, where he promptly curled up and fell asleep.

In the dark underbrush of the trees, two little blue eyes watched him warily. Then they set their sights on the oranges sitting in the grass. A few minutes passed. Then, as quietly as he could, Duo crept out and snatched up the fruit. They didn't last five minutes.

Trying to wipe off his sticky hands on his pants, Duo looked up at Apocalypse. He had seen pictures of machines that looked like that before, but he had never seen one in person. It was huge, especially next to a little boy. Seeing the open cockpit, curiosity became too much for him, and he tried climbing the gundam.

Unfortunately for him, his short little limbs weren't very suitable for climbing a big gundam with a smooth slippery surface. Everytime he tried to scramble up one of the legs, he would only come sliding down the squeaky metallic surface. Finally, with a pout, he gave up and went running around the side of the Apocalypse.

When he ran around a corner and saw Solo sleeping there, he skid to a stop. Duo crept up carefully. The boy with the long black braid confused him. He had been mean to him, but for some reason he didn't strike Duo as being a mean sort of person. Maybe it was because he reminded him of the big boy in the pictures his father had shown him a few times before. Duo remembered his father telling him about the person in the picture, and that it had been neat because they had the same name. That person had always been smiling.

Duo nudged at Solo with his foot. This one never smiled at all, but still, it made him think of the nice smiling face. Duo noticed the other shivering. Maybe it was because he was cold?

***

Solo awoke to the sound of his own quiet sobbing. He cursed himself for crying again, though it was by no means anything new. He cried every night. When he tried to move his hand to rub away the tears, he noticed something different.

He couldn't move. Solo looked down to see Duo curled against him. The little boy had his arms tight around him, as far as the little arms could go, making it difficult to move. Solo's eyes grew larger than usual in surprise. Did the kid have some kinda deathwish? 

After considering pushing Duo away, Solo decided it was strangely comforting, and didn't move. As he began drifting back into sleep, he found himself remembering his mother. Bright blue eyes that held him and loved him...

"Why are you sad?"

Solo blinked back awake at Duo's small voice. He frowned and pulled away from the boy to sit by himself. "I'm not sad. What are you doing back here anyway? You really wanna die that badly?"

"Nope. I wanna go home."

"Stupid kid."

"Are you going to kill me now?"

Solo moved his head very slightly and cast an annoyed look at Duo. "Tomorrow. Now would you please shut-up and go to sleep!?"

"I can't sleep." He tugged on Solo's braid curiously. "Are you a boy or a girl?"

"What!?" Solo's face whipped around to face Duo. The older boy had turned a bright red. "I'm a guy, you moron!" He grumbled something under his breath about 'Yuy's inbred son.'

Duo blinked innocently. "Then why do you have long hair? Only girls have long hair like that." He pulled on Solo's braid, trying to see if it was fake.

"OW!" Solo pulled his hair away, clutching it protectively. He glowered at the boy. "I'm not a girl! And I can wear my hair any way I want!"

Duo gave him a doubtful stare.

"If you're going to be irritating," Solo grumbled, "I keep it this way because my mother always put my hair into a braid when I was little, okay!?"

"Weird. My Mommy always wants to cut my hair. My Daddy told her that it would calm down one day, then she said to look into a mirror. I don't know what she meant by that, but I always have my hair cut. Mommy says it's proper for little boys."

"Hmph."

Duo chewed his lip a little. "But now that I think about it, Uncle Mill' has really really long hair, and he's a boy too."

"See." Solo rested his head on his knees. 

"But he doesn't have it in a ponytail like you do. Girls keep their hair in ponytails like that."

"It's a braid!" Solo shouted in exasperation. "And I'm not a girl, you little brat!" The side of his face was starting to twitch. "Listen very carefully. From the time I was smaller than your twerpy self, my mother put my hair into a braid." His tone softened as he remembered. "I couldn't stand it. Everytime she'd look at me, she'd look so sad. I didn't know why for a long time, until the first time I saw a picture of my father. Then I knew that everytime she looked at me, she was seeing him. And it was killing her." He squeezed his eyes shut in quiet misery. "Still, she insisted on putting my hair into this damn braid, making me look even more like him. Several times I almost cut the thing off myself. But I didn't..." His watery blue eyes opened slightly, unfocused. "Because she was always so happy when she was braiding it. She would take her time with it and talk to me... I think the best memories I have are of her fixing my hair..."

Solo was suddenly flooded with memories of a warm lap and soft loving words. "Then after she was gone, I couldn't bear to part with it." He whispered. He glanced over at Duo.

The little platinum blonde had fallen onto Solo's side and was snoring in a deep sleep.

"Stupid kid." Solo sighed. As if hearing a voice only he could hear, he glared up at Apocalypse. "No, he isn't cute."

The gundam almost seemed to smile to itself.

***

"It's possible he's still somewhere in the area." Quatre stood in front of a large shattered window. The golden light rising over the tree tops touched his form lightly. He glanced down to where Heero was standing on the walkway right outside. With Solo still out there, he hadn't wanted to leave Relena behind, not even with her hospital room under guard. But she had insisted they start searching for Duo immediately, which had raised no argument at all. "That communications base that was destroyed is only a couple of hundred miles out. Do you think...?"

"He's responsible for that too," Heero stepped back inside through the window. "A gundam was reported, and there was definitely a large mobile suit out here the other night. And I don't recognize the marks it left. But if I had to take a wild guess, I'd say gundam."

Quatre put his hands on his hips and shook his head with a frown. "But why would he destroy that base, if he's after your family? I thought this was a personal matter. Unless he's completely insane."

"I don't think he is. At least not yet." Heero crunched a piece of glass beneath his boot. "He's working for someone with their own agenda. It's the only way he could have gotten a suit."

"But there's no one who wants a war anymore," Quatre said quietly. "Who could he possibly be working for?"

"I'm hoping Solo can tell us himself..." Heero paused and turned his head sharply. "Do you hear that?"

"What?"

Without giving a reply, Heero bolted out the window and around the side of the house. Quatre hurried to keep up, but Heero was already far ahead. When Heero turned the corner that faced the backyard patio, he froze as he felt his heart skip a beat.

Standing there was a small figure with a head full of platinum blonde hair. Hearing a noise behind him, Duo turned around with wide curious eyes. "Daddy?"

With a joyful cry, Heero ran to his son and hugged him tightly. "Duo!" He could feel the tears flowing freely down his cheeks, but he didn't care. Heero was so happy to have his son back in his arms again, still warm and alive, that nothing else at the moment mattered at all.

Quatre turned the corner and smiled, his own aquamarine eyes glittering with thankful joy. He wanted to go over himself, but decided to leave Heero with his son for the moment.

"Duo...how did you get here?" Heero finally pulled back to look Duo in the face. He flushed slightly with anger, noting the bruises and swollen eye on the boy. The dirty and tattered little boy just smiled and looked past his father, out into the yard.

Following his gaze, Heero saw a small dark figure walking out into the woods on the edge of the property. A long dark braid swung behind him as he walked.

"Quatre...!" Heero quickly handed Duo over to Quatre and ran off across the yard. He was fast, and soon caught up with the figure. Heero slowed his pace a few feet behind the dark boy. Hearing Heero approach, Solo stopped where he stood, keeping his back to him.

"Solo...thank you."

"Don't. Thank your son."

As Solo moved to leave again, Heero took a few quick steps forward. "Wait. Please stay..."

Solo paused and turned his head slowly to look over his shoulder at Heero. There was a torn longing on his face. "Heero..."

A streak flashed past Solo's vision, followed by a sharp pain in his shoulder. He staggered back and cried out as from a blow. Clutching his shoulder, he felt something cold there. Feeling as if in a dream, he pulled it out and held it in front of his face. The color drained from his cheeks as he realized it was some sort of dart.

"Solo!" Heero cried as Solo suddenly swayed and passed out. He tried to reach him, but an explosion of light flew at him from out of nowhere, throwing him back onto the grass.

When Heero recovered, Solo was gone.


	4. Chapter 3

#### Gundam Apocalypse

by Maria Rocket

Chapter Three

***

When Solo awoke, he was shivering. The flat, hard surface beneath his cheek and palms felt like a sheet of ice. For a moment he thought he was dead, especially when he opened his eyes to nothing but darkness. But his stomach was growling, and he decided that a dead person probably wouldn't be hungry. His muscles were stiff from whatever he had been drugged with, and he pulled himself up to his knees painfully. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he realized he was inside a small featureless room.

He knew it was no use to even bother with the door. He knew it must be locked. He was in a prison cell. With a groan, he staggered into a hunched over standing position. He immediately had to support himself by placing his hands on his knees. Whatever they had knocked him out with had been powerful stuff.

Whoever had knocked him out...

Solo grimaced at the thought of Heero capturing him. Yet, even before the door opened, he realized that his captor was not Heero. He squinted his icy blue eyes in pain at the sudden rectangle of light that assaulted him. Then a shadow fell mercifully in the way. Solo glanced up, with a rising sense of panic, at Prof. Falkner.

The man with the purple jacket and the cold black eyes regarded the braided boy before him who could barely stand with a dangerous amusement. He stepped forward and knocked Solo over with the slightest kick. He smirked as the boy crumpled to the floor.

"Did you really think you could betray me, steal off with my gundam, and get away with it?" His eyes narrowed. "I told you not to underestimate me. Now it looks like I'll have to dispose of you and find a new pilot. What a waste of time you were."

Solo glared up at him. "No one else can pilot that gundam...no one has the right! My father's soul is in that machine, you bastard! Apocalypse is mine! And I won't let you use it for whatever insane takeover you're planning..."

Without changing the strange smile on his face, Prof. Falkner kicked Solo hard in the stomach, forcing a gasp of anguish from him. "Insane...? Can you even hear yourself, boy? You're further gone than I am." He paced slowly around the boy who was quivering in pain. "Your father...he was a war hero, wasn't he?" He knelt down beside Solo. "And look at you...a raving mad, murderous nobody. You're a disgrace to his memory. By ridding the world of you, I'll be doing your father a favor."

When Solo began sobbing on the floor, Prof. Falkner stood with a satisfied sneer. "Finally wiped the insolence off your face, have I? Good. Think about that awhile. After you've let that sink in for a few hours, I'll return to deal with you." With a humorless chuckle, he stepped out of the room, leaving Solo in darkness once more.

A deep sadness overwhelmed Solo. He couldn't stand the thought of anyone else piloting Apocalypse, or what Prof. Falkner would do with it, but he was seriously beginning to believe that maybe it would be better if he simply died. His life was miserable, and he had never brought anything but misery to those around him. "Yes," he mumbled to himself. "Death begets nothing but misery. I deserve to die."

"Death also begets rebirth and second chances," a soft feminine voice replied from the darkness. "And no one deserves to die."

There was the sound of a loud metallic clang, and someone falling heavily to the ground. Solo could barely lift his head to see the shadow moving towards him. His clouded blue eyes slightly wobbled with tears at the sight. "If death wishes to embrace his son," he whispered, "then please let him, because there's nothing I want more right now than to be in his arms."

The shadow knelt beside him. "Boy... Prof. Falkner was right about one thing." A flashlight snapped to life, revealing a small, slender girl about Solo's age in a purple jumpsuit. "You're looney."

In the soft glow, Solo squinted up at an angelic face with big emerald eyes and amber hair that fell about her eyes and around her shoulders. Solo almost expected a pair of wings to sprout from her back. "You...who are you?"

The girl smiled. "I'm Zara. You could say I'm sorta a prisoner myself. Wanna escape with me?" She extended a hand to the dark-haired boy.

Solo hesitated and watched her suspiciously. Finally, he scowled as he took her hand. "I guess it's better to die on my feet than lying here."

It took Zara a lot of pulling to get Solo to his feet again. Once standing again, she steadied him. "Let's wait a few minutes 'til the drugs wear off. We have the time, and we won't get very far if you keep falling over." She nudged him slightly. "So, your name's Solo, huh?"

"Yeah...Solo Maxwell." Solo muttered. He looked over at her. "What are you helping me for anyway?"

Zara blinked at him innocently. For briefest of instants, Solo could have sworn she was checking him out. "Like I said, no one deserves to die," she stated softly. "And I think we can help each other."

This drew a curious look from Solo. "How do you know I won't kill you? I'm crazy, you know."

Zara smirked. "I think I'm willing to risk it. Besides, you're not really a killer. You're just lonely."

"You assume way too much," Solo scowled.

"No...I just have a knack for reading people," Zara smiled.

Solo just shook his head. "Whatever. So, what is it you want me for?"

"It's something I'll have to show you. You'd never believe me otherwise." 

Once Solo had recovered enough to walk on his own, Zara led him out through the ventilation tube she'd broken into. It was too dark to see without the flashlight, but Solo followed behind Zara, as she seemed to know where she was going. "I'd been waiting for an opportunity to escape this place for some time," she explained in a whisper as they crawled along. "But I was always waiting for something. When I heard the gundam pilot had turned against the Project, I knew what I'd been waiting for."

"Hmm?"

A hint of light was up ahead. Zara tinkered with a metal tool that Solo couldn't see from his position. "I knew it was probably only a matter of time until they brought you here to be punished. We're just lucky Prof. Falkner didn't kill you as soon as he caught you." She turned something that clicked, and the metal grate fell away from the tube. She pulled her legs under her, and jumped down.

"I'm still surprised they found me at all," Solo jumped down after her into a darkly lit office. He glanced around at the old fashioned filing cabinets and the wooden desk with the single computer on it. "Falkner never struck me as being very competent beyond ordering people around."

"You'll need to be more careful. He's got a tracking device somewhere in your gundam." Zara sat at the computer and began typing away. "We'll need to remove it before we leave."

"What are you doing?" Solo leaned over the seat with one hand, looking into the blue glow of the screen. 

"You'll see..."

Suddenly an image snapped onto the screen. It looked like Prof. Falkner, except that where his eyes should have been, there were only two glowing red lights. He seemed to be speaking in gibberish, until Zara typed something else onto the keyboard.

"Everything is proceeding," the onscreen image stopped speaking in gibberish. "The gundam is completed, and will soon initiate mass chaos upon both the human planet and colonies. With virtually no military to speak of, they will become desperate for assistance. The Project will step in to dispose of the gundam, which will be simple, especially considering the pilot is working for us. Then once the Project's forces are in place, we shall have no problem at all gaining complete control over all establishments. By the time our people arrive, I shall have this species all but exterminated. End update." The image froze.

Solo stared. "Umm...please don't tell me this is what it looks like."

"I told you it would be hard to believe," Zara sighed. "Prof. Falkner isn't human. He's been sent to prepare the Earth for alien colonization. I didn't believe it myself when I first hacked into his files and found this...but there it is."

Running his hands back through his hair, Solo paced around the small office. "God...you want me to save the world from aliens, is that what you want? Oh God...this is nuts..."

"You're our only hope. There is no more military on Earth or the colonies to defend themselves. You need to stay alive to fight and spread the truth. Otherwise we're all going to be destroyed..." Zara placed her hands in her lap and looked pleadingly up at him.

Solo glanced over at her from the corner of the room. He had a very doubtful look on his face. "Okay...I believe you. If we can get Apocalypse out of here, it'll screw up Falkner pretty bad, human or not. Where's it being held?"

With a smile, Zara stood and walked over to take his arm. "Come with me."

***

"Oh my little boy," Relena sobbed, hugging Duo tightly. She hadn't let go of the boy since Heero had brought him to the hospital. He was now sleeping soundly in his mother's arms.

Next to the bed, Heero sat in quiet contemplation. After Solo had been taken, he was sure it had to do with whoever had built the gundam. Clearly, Solo's performance, perhaps in returning Duo or something else entirely, had not been to their liking. Determined not to lose Solo, especially right after Duo had been returned, Heero had asked Quatre to do some checking around. Whatever mess Solo was in, Heero was going to find a way to help him out. He just had to figure out where this new activity was taking place...

"Relena?" 

Heero lifted his head for a moment to see Milliardo Peacecraft standing in the doorway. He looked exceedingly worried as he approached Relena's side. Apparently she had notified him during Heero's absence, and he had rushed over. Heero nodded a silent greeting.

"Brother!" Relena greeted. "I'm so glad you've come. Dear Heero managed to bring Duo back...it's like a miracle."

"Thank goodness," Milliardo sighed, kissing his sister's forehead and stroking the sleeping boy's hair. Lucrezia wanted to be here, but Aleta still has a touch of the flu."

"Perfectly understandable," Relena smiled.

"I'm glad this was resolved with as little pain as possible." He looked up at the still thoughtful Heero. "Thank you, Heero."

Heero pulled out of his thoughts and looked up at Milliardo. "Oh... I really can't take any credit for Duo's return."

"But Heero..." Relena protested.

"It was Solo's choice." Heero turned from Relena and Milliard to Duo. "He wanted to give him back."

"Who's this Solo?" Milliardo asked with a small frown.

***

"Steady..." Zara whispered, helping a still somewhat wobbly Solo down from another tube. She had led them into what, to Solo, looked like a large landing dock. For nearly as far as he could see, there were mobile suits lined up in neat rows.

His eyes widened. At least he thought they were mobile suits. They were all coiled like red serpents, ready to strike. "What are those?"

"Mobile suits," Zara whispered with a grim expression. "Prof. Falkner's Scorpio class suits. They operate like the old mobile dolls, except far more advanced. He's planning on using these to enforce his control during the takeover."

"Maybe we should do something about these before we leave," Solo followed quickly after Zara as she made her way through the Scorpio hordes. 

"At the moment, I think it would be wiser to get out of here as fast as we can. These things are tougher than you'd think. Remember, Falkner planned to be able to take down the gundam with these if he had to. We'll need a plan."

Finally, they reached the Apocalypse, which was crouching among the other suits. Solo almost smiled. Almost. 

Zara led the way up to the cockpit. The first thing she did was to pry off one of the control panels with the same tool she'd used on the tube grating. Just as Solo went to protest, she pulled out a small cube-like object with a blinking red light on it. She tossed it to Solo, who caught it and stared at it.

"That's how they found you so quick. Get rid of it, and get in." She half jumped, half floated down from the Apocalypse and looked up at him for a moment.

"What about you?" Solo called out as she began running off. 

"I'll be taking one of the Scorpios," Zara called back with a wave. "They can also be operated manually. They're all I've ever piloted, so don't worry. Just be ready to move when I tell you!"

"You're a pilot?" Solo asked in surprise, though she was then out of earshot. He quickly snapped out of his brief questioning stare, and tossed the tracker away from Apocalypse. As he turned to enter the gundam, he made a mental note to later ask Zara exactly what she'd been imprisoned for.

***

"Duo Maxwell's son? Are you sure?" After a long explanation of recent events, Milliard looked exceedingly pale. He had taken to pacing the room with a hand to his temples.

Heero nodded. "I'm sure. And I'm also sure that whoever captured him is responsible for building the new gundam. Quatre's looking into it at this very moment. Once we locate the builder, I'm going to rescue Solo."

"Heero, I know it's important to find out who's behind the gundam before more tragedy happens, but is Solo really worth the trouble?" Relena looked up at Heero and held their son tighter.

"Was I worth the trouble?"

Relena sighed.

Just then, Quatre stepped in clutching a printout sheet. He nodded a quick greeting to Milliardo, who did likewise. "Hello, Mr. Peacecraft, glad you could make it." He wasted no time in handing the printout over to Heero. "It took some digging...even with no one monitoring these things closely anymore, someone went to a lot of trouble to cover their tracks. Apparently about three years ago, someone shipped an incredible amount of Gundanium to somewhere on the moon's surface. Not only that, but titanium, platinum, and other various metals...many of which are used only in the construction of mobile suits."

"So, there could already be an army of mobile suits right over our heads?" Milliardo stopped pacing, looking as though he had a severe headache. "After all this time...who could possibly be responsible?"

Heero stood. "That's what I'm going to find out." 

"I'm coming along," Millardo stated in a no nonsense manner. 

"Alright." Heero turned towards the door. "Quatre..."

"Yeah, I'll stay and watch out for Relena and Duo," Quatre finished with a smile. Truth was, he was getting tired of staying behind all the time, but he at least felt relieved that Heero still trusted him with his family. Besides, Trowa had decided to come down to Earth after hearing what had happened, and Quatre figured it would be best if he was here when he arrived. "Just be careful," he warned Heero and Milliardo. "There's no telling what you may find up there."

***

Prof. Falkner was stepping into the hall when a low rumble vibrated throughout the Project's lunar base. Alarms went screaming through the air. Several soldiers began running through the hallways for their emergency positions. Falkner managed to catch one roughly by the arm.

"What's going on!?"

The soldier cowered. "I'm not sure...they're saying we've got a breach, and the gundam's gone!"

"What!?" Pushing the soldier away, Falkner rushed down to the base's main offices, where he was met by a frightened looking man in white lab coat. 

"Prof. Falkner! The pilot, Maxwell, he's escaped, and he's taken the Apocalypse with him!"

In a rage, Falkner shoved past the man in the raincoat and began typing into the main security panel. "Then check the tracking system you fool, and send out the Scorpios to bring them back!"

"We can't! He's removed it!" The lab coat man held up the cube-shaped device.

"What...!?" Falkner whirled around and stared at the device in disbelief. "Damn him!" He slapped the device from the man's grasp, and it went skidding across the floor. "Is he still in range?"

Looking quite terrified now, the lab coat man shook his head in a negative. "He's either gone into cloak or around the surface of the moon by now. By the time we send out the Scorpios, he'll be long gone. We...we just weren't expecting anything like this!"

Falkner slammed his fist down on the panel, causing it to spark. "Send them out anyway! To both Earth and the colonies, send out manned Scorpios! We'll find and destroy him if we have to! I'll start the Project from scratch again if I need to, but we can't afford to let Maxwell live!"

"But...if the Scorpios are seen...!"

"It's a risk we'll have to take! We can't allow him to alert anyone to the location or objective of this operation! Send them out now!"

"But...but sir, I'm afraid we have another problem. Subject #34 is missing from the labs! We can't locate her anywhere! We think she may have..."

"Damn you!" Falkner backhanded the lab man sharply across the face. "How could you have let her escape!? If anyone finds out about her...!"

The lab man backed away. "She probably helped the pilot escape...if we can locate him, then we'll be sure to retrieve her. I'll have the Scorpios dispatched at once!"

As his underling fled to his task, Falkner stood fuming, in anger and in fear for everything he had worked for up to that point. It was bad enough the pilot was now a threat to security, and the gundam missing, but now #34 had escaped as well! He stalked off to his office.

***

Within minutes of fleeing the lunar base, Zara finally found her voice. "Solo...where are we going?" 

Solo glanced up as her face appeared onscreen. "Going home. It's the one place I doubt the Project will ever find us."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm the only living soul that knows it exists," Solo nodded. "Just follow me."

"Well, if you say so..."

Apocalypse and Zara's Scorpio disappeared into dark space, headed in the direction of the L2 colonies.

***

It was night when Solo and Zara slipped into the colony unnoticed. Swiftly, Solo led them to the edge of a forested area. No one lived anywhere near there, at least not anymore. After he sent a remote signal, part of the forest floor lifted away to reveal a secret passage.

"Wow...this your place?" Zara hovered the Scorpio up beside him.

"Yeah...it's a secret place my parents used to keep a long time ago. We should be able to hide here for awhile. You tell anyone about this place though, and I'll have to kill you." Solo warned sharply.

"Hey, who am I gonna tell? I'm in hiding now too, you know."

Inside, the gundam and the Scorpio came to rest in a dark, cold, gigantic cave. It was mostly nothing but space, but in one corner were two old beds, and a collection of personal items that Zara couldn't really make out in the dark. The only lights Solo had bothered to switch on were a row of dim lights hanging high overhead. 

"Just don't touch anything, okay?" Solo mumbled, making his way over to one of the beds, which he collapsed onto.

Zara smiled over at him, and noticed that there was more equipment and objects further down in the cave. But what had her attention now was a very large thing at the very end. Deciding to let Solo rest, she took a walk down to see what it was.

When she finally reached it, she saw that it was big purple and black mobile suit. It had a decidedly feminine look to it. The suit was layered with cobwebs and dust, but she could tell from glancing along it, that it was probably in perfect working condition. "Oh wow..."

"That, is the Gundam Persephone."

Startled, Zara turned to see Solo standing there behind her. She hadn't even heard him following her. "Really? I've never heard of it." Solo was standing with his hands tucked into his pockets, staring up at gundam Persephone. "She means a lot to you, doesn't she?"

Solo's eyes flickered over towards Zara with a mixture of irritation and surprise. "She belonged to my mother." He turned away and bowed his head slightly, hiding his face in shadow. "She was the one who made sure no one ever heard of Persephone. When I was very young, she mananged to find out about its construction, perhaps through her connections to my father, who was a gundam pilot himself. She became Persephone's test pilot, but when she became suspicious of it's purpose, she stole it and hid it away here. They never found us or the gundam." He looked up at Zara. "Guess you could say gundam snatching is a family tradition."

"Who built it?" Zara touched the cool metal surface, leaving the trail of her fingers behind in the dust.

Solo shrugged. "Who knows? My mother never told me much more about it. For all I know, it could've been ol' Falkner back then too."

"I wouldn't doubt it," Zara muttered. "It's beautiful though. Why did you get yourself involved with Falkner when you already had this?"

"I thought about it at first," Solo sighed. "But it just wasn't me." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, I know it sounds silly."

Zara shook her head. "No, I understand. A gundam can be a very personal sort of thing."

Solo looked back up at her with a strange expression. "Yeah."

"Your mother must have been quite a woman to pilot something like this." Zara smiled and stood back to get a better view. "What's she doing now?"

"She's been dead for a long time," Solo pulled his green jacket off, leaving only the black shirt beneath. He tossed the jacket off to the side and turned to walk away. "I never actually saw her pilot anything myself. And I've only seen my father in old news archives."

Zara stood and watched him walk off. "Oh...I'm sorry." Her voice echoed as she raised her voice to be heard. "I guess that's why you're so lonely."

Glaring, Solo stopped and turned slightly to face her. "I don't need your sympathy. Could you please be quiet for awhile? Whatever we're going to do, it can wait until I get some sleep."

"Sure."

Solo started walking off again, then suddenly paused and turned his head to glance back at her again. "Anyway," he said in a softer tone of voice. "You have family?"

Zara's eyes which were usually wide and honest, suddenly became clouded and faraway. She looked away towards Persephone. "You'd better go get some sleep, Solo. We've got a difficult road ahead of us."

"Hmm." With a frown and a shrug, Solo tossed his braid and left for his bed. Zara just sat on the floor by the Persephone and watched him go. When he fell asleep, she was still watching him.

***

Within the dark recesses of his office, Falkner pulled a file out of one of his old filing cabinets. It was file #34, labeled: Zara Quatrina Winner. He ripped it in two. One of objectives in the Project had been to take complete control of all important political and financial institutions. This would eventually be achieved not only through forceful measures and good old fashioned corruption, the latter which had already served him well, but through some less conventional methods. Falkner had predicted that some would not be able to be corrupted or forced into serving the interests of the Project. One in particular, was the head of the powerful and wealthy Winner family.

The plan had been simple enough. They would create a genetic heir to Quatre Raberba Winner's fortune, then when the time was right, dispose of him and all remaining relatives. Once they had proven Zara to be the genetic daughter of Quatre Winner, she would have become the Project's puppet, and given them access to the Winner family's assets. However, she was no ordinary girl.

Falkner was now seriously beginning to regret having given the lab men under the Project any of the advanced techniques of his race to create the Winner girl. He should have left well enough alone. They had let their scientific curiousity get the better of them, and had decided to build her DNA not only from the Winner heir, but from the DNA of one of the other gundam pilots. One that had also given a DNA sample during a physical examination on the Peacemillian, which is where their agents had smuggled the genetic material from sixteen years ago when the Project had began in secret. As a result, Zara was the genetic daughter not only of Quatre Raberba Winner, but of the gundam pilot known as Trowa Barton as well.

"Twisted fools," Falkner muttered. "Traditional methods weren't good enough for them...had to make it their own secret experiment." Now, if anyone were to examine her and somehow discover the truth, it would lead right back to his lab men. They were the only ones with technology sophisticated enough, even as far as common human science went, to accomplish such a thing. And what led to them, could possibly lead back to himself and the Project. He grimaced.

Raised from an infant by the Project, Zara had been trained with many skills, including mobile suit piloting. Falkner had initially instructed that her abilities remain only in the political and corporate area that she would eventually need to run the Winner corporation for them, but the scientists had wanted their experiment to continue further. As the daughter of two gundam pilots, they had began training her, to see if she had inherited any exceptional piloting skills. When it quickly became clear that she did indeed excel in piloting, they had increased her training, which came to include computer hacking and hand-to-hand combat. The unnecessary training began to greatly concern Falkner.

He had barely allowed the training to continue, feeling that his men were giving her far too much freedom of thought in conjunction with her training. However, when Solo had betrayed him, he soon decided to select Zara as Apocalypse's new pilot.

But now...

"Damn them both," he rasped. "I'll kill them before I let them ruin all my work after these many years!" His eyes glowed crimson in the dark.


	5. Chapter 4

#### Gundam Apocalypse

by Maria Rocket

Chapter Four

***

"What do you mean we don't have clearance? Do you have any idea who we are?" Milliardo snapped impatiently at the guard at the Luna Prime shuttle dock. Since arriving on the moon, Heero and Milliardo had found nothing but obstacles as they attempted to reach the coordinates Quatre had given them.

"I don't care if you're royalty or somethin', that area is privately owned! No one goes in or out of that section without special clearance!" The guard snapped back.

The blonde prince glowered at the guard. He began to advance on the stupidly oblivious guard, but Heero quickly blocked him with his outstretched arm. 

"Civilian shuttles aren't the only way to get around," Heero said quietly.

Milliardo looked down at his brother-in-law and swallowed his anger with a nod. "Right." 

***

At first, Solo thought he was only dreaming when he felt someone stroking his hair. He had often had dreams of his mother running her hands through his hair, as she had when he was young, so it didn't strike him as anything out of the ordinary. The soft reassuring voice didn't really register either, even though it sounded nothing like his mother. It wasn't until he felt the real warmth against his cheek that his ice blue eyes flashed open. At first he couldn't focus clearly in the dark, but his vision adjusted quickly.

Zara was sitting next to his bed, looking very concerned. She withdrew her hand as Solo startled and jumped away from her to sit on the far side on the bed. The boy's braid had unraveled in his sleep, and the long raven black hair fell about him like a dark cloak. His face was angry, and it looked as if he wanted to say something to her, but he just turned away to wipe away the tears on his face with the back of his hand.

"Why do you cry in your sleep?"

Casting a look of annoyance onto the girl, Solo tucked his black hair behind one ear. "I wasn't crying."

"Yes, you were." Zara's searching emerald eyes darted from one blue eye to the other. As she did so, a sadness seeped into her features. "You always cry, don't you?"

"I told you," Solo snapped, "I wasn't crying!" 

"It's okay." Zara's eyebrows lifted and she smiled gently. "I cry sometimes too."

Solo narrowed his eyes a bit. "What do you have to cry about?"

"Oh, things." Zara dropped her gaze and clasped her hands together. She was quiet for a moment. Then she looked back up at Solo. "I mean, at least you know who your parents were. You even knew one of them. I don't know where I come from. I've lived my entire life in the Project's labs. None of those scientists ever cared about me though." She watched a hint of surprise appear in Solo's blue eyes.

"You grew up in a lab?" Solo felt his chest tighten. "That wouldn't happen to have anything to do with why you can pilot a mobile suit, would it?"

"Yeah." Zara forced a smile at Solo's questioning stare. "Don't worry, I'm completely human."

"Then what were you doing in a lab?" 

"I was never really able find out. But I'm sure it had something to do with the eventual takeover. All I really know about myself is my name. My last name's Winner, and the most I was able to discover is that there's some kinda big corporation by the same name..."

"Winner?" Solo's brows came together in concentration. "I know I've heard that name before..."

At that moment, there was an explosion of gunfire from the front of their hideout. Even as the two stood in shock, the frightening shadows of Scorpio suits slunk into view.

***

A low flying shuttle skimmed through the rocky outskirts of the moon's light side. Not too far away was the remote lunar base. In a billowy cloud of dust, the shuttle descended quietly among the rocks. There was no sound obviously, and no reaction from the base. A few minutes later, two forms in spacesuits exited the shuttle. Without hesitation, they made their way towards the lunar base.

***

"Scorpios!" Zara cried as she stepped back in fright.

"How did they find this place!?" Solo glared an accusingly at Zara.

"I..." Zara gasped and her green eyes widened. "I didn't check my suit! Blast it, they must have trackers too! How could I have been so stupid!?"

"GAH! Just move!" Solo yelped as the Scorpios opened fire in their direction. He grabbed her by the hand and ran. Unfortunately, there wasn't anywhere to hide.

***

Back on Earth, Quatre suddenly felt very claustrophobic. He turned towards one of the windows in Relena's hospital room and put his hand to the cold surface. 'Why am I shaking?'

'Solo!' It was a female voice, one that he did not recognize. Quatre spun around expecting to see perhaps a nurse. But there was no one there. Relena still slept on the bed, and Duo was watching television. Quatre frowned down at the floor in concern, wondering if he'd really heard the voice at all. It had seemed familiar somehow. 

"Quatre!" It was the same tone of voice, but this time it was male. And Quatre recognized who was calling this time. He looked up at who was standing at the opened door with a relieved smile. 

"Trowa!"

Little Duo looked up from the floor as well with a wide smile. "Uncle Trowa!" Laughing, he ran up and hugged onto Trowa's leg. Nearly being knocked over by the charging child, Trowa quickly caught himself on the doorframe. 

"Hello kid," Trowa smiled. Then he managed to pry the little platinum urchin from his leg and pick him up in his arms. He made a little strangled noise as Duo reclaimed his deathgrip, this time around his neck.

Quatre tried his best not to laugh, but didn't succeed very well. "Affectionate, isn't he?"

Turning slightly blue, Trowa nodded. Finally, he managed to pull the ever cheerful Duo away a bit. His eyes showed a shine of concern at the ugly bruise on the boy's cheek, but decided not to mention it. "So, I see you're doing well, Duo. You've been brave, haven't you." 

Duo blinked. "What?"

Trowa and Quatre exchanged a look, seeing if the other knew how to handle the question. However, they both looked somewhat uncertain. When Trowa looked back at Duo, he got a chill. A strange sudden change had come over the boy. Duo wasn't looking at anything in particular anymore, and there was a somewhat detached expression in his eyes. As if something had brushed away the child inside. When Trowa usually looked at Duo, he saw a little version of Heero. Normally it was just cute, but the way the boy's eyes were now, it was more disturbing to him than anything else.

"You mean Solo, right, Uncle Trowa?" Duo looked up at Trowa. "Did you bring him with you?"

This really startled Trowa. He shot Quatre a questioning look. The blonde shrugged, with an equally surprised expression. "No..." Trowa answered. "I don't know where Solo is." Wanting to scatter the look in the child's eyes, he smiled and sat him down on the edge of Relena's bed. "Hey, let's not worry about that though. I'm sure everything's fine. I know, want some ice cream?"

Like a magic switch, Duo's eyes lit up and shadows were chased away. "Yeah!" He squealed happily, bouncing slightly on the bed.

Quatre grinned and ruffled the little boy's hair. "Uncle Trowa and I will go get you some then. Stay here and and be good, okay?"

"Yup!"

***

"Getting in was a little too easy. I don't like this."

Even through the tinted visor of his suit's helmet, Heero could see the unsettled look on Milliardo's face. He turned the corner of another corridor and looked around. "This place is deserted. Maybe they're expecting us."

"We should split up. It'd be foolish to be caught together in one swoop." Milliardo pointed towards the next corridor. It was still brightly lit, which somehow made it even more eerie than it would be if it were dark. "You go that way, and I'll check this way."

Heero nodded. "Right. Radio only if you find Solo."

"Solo...black braid, right?"

"Yeah." 

As they turned to go their separate ways, Milliardo paused. He turned towards Heero's departing back. "Heero, about Solo."

Heero stopped and looked back curiously at the strange sound of Milliardo's voice. It was unnerving him. The last thing he needed was Milliardo having some kind of break down in their sensitive situation. He wondered what could possibly be bothering him. 'But he was responsible for the Libra's destruction as well,' Heero thought to himself. 'Is it possible he feels guilty about Duo's death too?' Heero turned his shoulder towards Milliardo. "What about him?"

Refusing to meet his eyes at first, Milliardo finally looked up at him with a haunted expression. "I think I've made a terrible mistake."

Heero frowned. "What do you mean?" Before Milliardo could reply, a dull roar resounded through the building. The ground began to shake them about. Heero shook his head. "No time for talk! Move!" 

They rushed away from each other down the separate corridors. The base was still shaking, and it sounded as if whatever was causing it would be approaching them very soon.

***

Cowering behind the huge frame of Apocalypse, Solo and Zara could do nothing as the Scorpio suits came ever closer, firing their machine guns. They gave off bursts of heat from their whip-like tails that sounded like the hissing of cobras. Zara narrowed her eyes.

"Solo, get in your suit."

"There's no way... Hey!" Solo shouted as Zara suddenly bolted away and went running. She was fast, but it was clearly a suicidal move. The Scorpios locked onto her movement immediately and fired after her. Though shocked for a moment, Solo quickly took the opportunity to get into the Apocalypse.

Adrenaline running through him, he had the systems switched on in record time. Taking the direct approach, Solo literally threw the black gundam into the Scorpios line of fire. It stopped the shooting, but instantly the Scorpios were whipping their tails all about the Apocalypse, binding its limbs tightly. Solo struggled with the controls as the burning coils squeezed the gundam to the floor, the metal screaming. He whipped his head around at the display, throwing his bangs out of the way, trying to find Zara.

'At least there isn't a body...maybe she got away somehow...' Solo turned his attention back towards the Scorpios swarming all over him. "Damn you! Get off!" He struggled to keep himself steady as the gundam threatened to shake apart around him. The deathwave switch caught his eye, but he quickly looked away. 'No, I can't. That'd be worse than selfdestructing inside the colony.' The memory of the last time he'd used that switch flickered within him. 'All those people destroyed... NO!'

With a cry of rage, he kicked on Apocalypse's boosters, sending the suit and the attached Scorpios flying across the floor in a roar of spitting light and metal. It crashed hard into the wall, smashing the Scorpio behind it into bits. However, the others were still firmly attached, and threatening to melt or crush Apocalypse and its pilot, whichever came first. 

Within the cockpit, the systems were erupting into sparks around Solo. The violent shaking was taking its toll on him, and he felt as though he might be jolted to death. He gripped the controls, his teeth gritted, trying to hold together by sheer will. 

"You BASTARDS!" He screamed angrily. "Apocalypse, HOLD ON!!!"

The gundam moved violently once more against the wall, but the Scorpios still weren't coming off. Then there was a spinning flash of silver light, and one of the Scorpios exploded in a burst that rocked the Apocalypse so hard that the impact nearly knocked Solo unconscious. He turned to look into the darkness.

"What in the..!?" His blue eyes widened in shock as he saw the purple and black gundam he'd known almost all his life move for the first time. Gundam Persephone stood crouched and poised, almost like some ancient amazon. A curving device extended from its forearm, and it flung its arm out again. Within, something glowed anew. 'Heat Chakrams,' Solo suddenly remembered. Another spinning hoop of light went flying at the Scorpios, sending the coiling monsters up into shards of light.

"How...?" Solo croaked before the resulting explosions knocked him back into his seat, and into darkness. He slumped over against the seat harness as the Apocalypse collapsed like creaking deadweight to the floor.

***

Once alone in the hall, Quatre fell into Trowa's arms. Holding onto him tightly, he was surprised to find that he was crying. Just as surprised, Trowa held onto the shuddering blonde. He buried his face against his hair and rubbed his back.

"Shhh... Is it really that bad?" Trowa whispered.

"Trowa, why did this have to happen?" Quatre sobbed. He could feel all the stress and fear he'd built up over the past days releasing against Trowa. In those arms, in that presence, he felt secure, and everything he'd held in for everyone else's sake came pouring out, like cleansing waters over unwashed wounds. "You saw the look on Duo's face. He's keeping it in, whatever happened to him out there, like what gave him that bruise. He's refused to talk about it, other than to ask about Solo. He seems fine, but everytime I see that look on his face...part of that little boy's gone, Trowa." He cringed. "And it's all my fault."

"It's not your fault," Trowa tightened his arms around Quatre. "That's just life. I know you did all you could. You can't keep blaming yourself. As for Duo...he's clearly dealing with his experience in his own way. All we can do now is make sure that there are no worse experiences in his future."

Unknown to them, two big blue eyes in a small face were watching them quietly from a crack in the doorway. Beneath wild platinum bangs, those eyes hooded slightly. 'Was it so bad? Was it really so bad? It wasn't fun...at first...but I feel different somehow. I feel braver. I would do it again, if I could see Solo again. He was neat...interesting. He had a big robot, just like my dad used to tell me about. All those exciting stories...I wish Solo would come back.' Duo found himself slinking down in the doorway with a strange, dark little smile. 'Fun.'

"I guess..." Quatre sighed, "I was hoping Duo would never have to experience anything like the rest of us did. The peace we fought for, was so little ones like him wouldn't have to suffer, and just live a normal life. It's just unfair."

Trowa nodded. "We need to make sure it never gets that far ever again. That's why we need to go help Heero and Milliardo on the moon."

"What?" Quatre looked up in surprise. "But I can't just leave Relena and Duo alone!"

"Given what you've told me, Solo was the only one currently targeting them. And since Solo has since been captured, there's no reason to think that they're in any more immediate danger. But if Heero and Milliardo encounter more than they can handle on the lunar base, they may need our help. If someone's building mobile suits up there, there's no room for failure." He caressed Quatre's cheek gently, rubbing away his tears. 

"Yeah...I see your point. It'd be good to make a real difference again." Quatre finally smiled. "Let's go to the moon."

"First, we get Duo's ice cream," Trowa smiled to see Quatre's mood lifted. Then he leaned in for a quick loving kiss. They didn't notice the boy giggling at them behind the door.

***

Running through the corridor, Milliardo tried not to trip as the building continued to rumble. He wondered if it was some kind of earthquake, and often glanced up to make sure the roof wasn't about to come down on him. As he went, he checked each door, but he hadn't found any sign of a holding cell. In fact, the entire place seemed to be empty. Or so he thought until he opened the door at the end of the hall. There was an eerie blue light within the darkness.

Behind a desk, a middle aged man looked sharply up at the intruder. Then recognition registered on his face, and he smiled in a way that made Milliardo feel ill. He aimed his weapon at the man.

"Who are you?" He demanded gruffly.

Prof. Falkner just laughed. Then he walked out from behind the desk. "People around here have taken to calling me Falkner. But I doubt any of you could even pronounce my true name. You're Milliardo Peacecraft, aren't you? What a nice coincidence...this makes my job just a little easier."

Prof. Falkner was still approaching, and something about his eyes was frightening him. Milliardo backed off, keeping his gun raised. He switched on his radio. "Where's Solo?"

Suddenly Prof. Falkner stopped and frowned. "You know Solo?" He paused for a moment. "No matter. You'll all be dead soon enough. Solo isn't here any longer. But I assure you, when I find him, he'll be joining you." He raised a hand towards the man in the spacesuit.

Not too far away, Heero listened in as Milliardo suddenly screamed, and the transmission broke off in a crash of static. Eyes wide, he whirled around and ran down towards the other corridor. He almost fell over as the building shook even harder than before. Behind him, the corridor exploded in a balloon of flames. He glanced back, finally realizing why everything was shaking so much. Staying near the wall, he ran even faster.

As he was running down the next corridor, he skid to a stop when he saw Milliardo's form lying still by an open doorway. He hurried over, but checked inside the open room first. There was no one there, only shadows. 'There was someone here talking with Milliardo,' Heero thought with a slight grimace. 'Where is he?'

Several loud explosions nearby snapped Heero back out of his thoughts. There was no more reason to stay, especially with the building going up. He checked on Milliardo, and found that he was still breathing, though very shallow. After failing to revive him, Heero hefted Milliardo over his shoulder and ran. This time he didn't bother trying to hide, concerning himself only with the quickest way out. Once outside, he couldn't go very fast on the moon's surface, but even carrying Milliardo, he traveled quickly. Taking another look at the complex erupting behind him, he continued going past their shuttle. He didn't stop until they reached the safety of a line of large boulders.

Just as Heero set Milliardo down, the shuttle was caught in the expanding explosion of the destructing lunar base, shattering into burning wreckage. Heero's steel blue eyes narrowed, watching the base collapse into a massive moon crater beneath it. Whoever had been here had just abandoned their base. The possible reasons for that upset Heero greatly. 

His mouth actually fell open in shock as his worst fears were confirmed. Suddenly, like a swarm of red locusts, thousands of Scorpios went flying out from the dark pit of what was once the lunar base. They nearly filled the black sky, before slithering out into space. Heero gripped the rock he hid behind, and looked down at the still unconscious form of his brother-in-law. 

For the first time, he noticed a strange blue glow surrounding Milliardo. Cautiously, he shook the larger man. "Hey. Wake up." He frowned when there was still no response. Putting a hand to Milliardo's chest, Heero could feel his heart beating. He glanced out into space, then back again. "Milliardo, we've got major trouble, so you'd better snap out of it soon." The man with the platinum blonde hair didn't open his eyes, so Heero just sat there in the shadow of the rock with his hands on his knees. 

"Everything's going to hell," he muttered.

***

Everything was dark. Normally Solo would have found that frightening, but this time a warmth surrounded him, and he didn't feel alone. Then suddenly it wasn't so dark anymore. He held on tighter to the warmth surrounding him, and he saw that it was a golden light.

"Mom?"

There was a girlish giggle.

Solo struggled to focus his eyes further. The light faded into two green eyes and a sweet smile framed by amber hair. Solo blinked. "Zara?"

"Still alive? That's a good thing," she grinned.

"Barely..." Solo groaned, feeling pain as he tried to move his head. "Feels like every bone in my body's been shaken loose...it's a wonder my head's still attached. You weren't kiddin' about those suits..." Wincing as he tried to move, he realized exactly where he was. Zara had him cradled against her where she sat on the hatch of Apocalypse's cockpit. Apparently she had retrieved his green jacket, and had it wrapped around him. And somehow he'd ended up with his arms tight around her torso. He felt the heat rising to his cheeks, and he attempted to pull away.

"Careful!" Zara scolded him as he only succeeded in falling to his hands and knees as pain shot through him. "You're just going to hurt yourself worse!" She put an arm around his back and helped him get up. 

Giving in to the fact that he couldn't stand without her support, Solo allowed her to help. "I guess we can't stay here anymore." He looked depressed for a moment before swallowing it. "We'd better go before more of those things arrive."

Zara nodded. "I'm sorry about this...it was all my fault."

"Yeah." Solo glanced over at her. "But I guess you didn't know. Thanks for...saving me..." He seemed uncomfortable. 'Why did you save me?' Solo thought to himself. 'I don't understand...' And what he didn't understand made him uneasy.

Zara blinked curiously.

"Help me back in Apocalypse." He quickly changed the subject. He frowned and looked over at the roughed up gundam. "If I'm lucky, it may still be able to fly at least. You might as well take the Persephone, since you seem to know how to pilot her."

"Took me a few minutes to figure her out," Zara slid his jacket back around him, then carefully set Solo back into Apocalypse's cockpit. "You're just lucky I discovered the right controls when I did." She helped him with the seat harness, and looked him over nervously. "Are you sure you're up to flying this thing?"

"Well, it's that or stay and die," Solo's shaking hands went dancing over the systems panels. His face lit up a little. "Thank God...the suit isn't critical yet. It'll fly, but we'd better not run into anymore Scorpios."

Zara nodded. "I'll back you up if you need it. Let's hurry though." She jumped down and ran over to the Persephone. Solo's eyes darted over for a moment, watching her go, then glanced back at his systems screen before the Apocalypse's cockpit hatch closed. The suit rumbled to life with a few creaks, but soon staggered to its feet.

"Easy..." Solo gripped the controls and took a deep breath. A screen flashed onto his display. It was Zara, looking worried.

"I REALLY hope that thing isn't going to fall apart on you."

Solo shook his head at her, tucking his loose black hair behind his ears. He made a note to rebraid it as soon as he got an opportunity. "Hey, it's just a little jittery. But if I can take it, so can Apocalypse."

"Well, then I hope you don't go and fall apart," Zara said with a wicked little grin. Then she glanced down at what Solo assumed was her own control display. "Speaking of which, this suit is in pretty good condition considering how long it must've been sitting around."

"In my spare time, I did maintenence on it," Solo explained. "Helped me learn gundam systems. It should still perform as well as it did when my mother flew it. Just take it easy until you've really gotten the hang of it."

"Gotcha." 

Apocalypse took a few shakey steps forward, then with a leap, its boosters roared, and it took to the air. It cleared the opening the Scorpios had blown in the ceiling and soared free into the colony. With a few quick movements, Persephone darted into the sky after it. Within mere moments, they escaped the confines of the colony and ascended into deep space.

Meanwhile, deep within the cavern they had departed, the wreckage of one of the Scorpios flared with crimson light. The machine attempted to move many times with a whirring sound. When it failed, it buzzed once, twice, thrice...

Suddenly, Persephone stopped and whirled around. Zara gasped as if in pain and leaned forward towards the screen. She took her hands from the controls and touched the image of the colony. "Solo...!" She cried. "Something's wrong!"

"What?" Solo turned his gundam and glanced towards the colony and Persephone in confusion. "Zara?"

In the darkness, the Scorpio wreckage flared with a hellish light as something screamed within it. Then it blasted outward, consuming everything around it in a blinding white light. The sound was deafening, while it lasted.

"Oh my God..." Zara's fingertips jolted away from the screen in shock. The L2 colony they had left behind was lighting up section by section from within. It almost seemed to expand for a moment before bursting in a tremendous blast, breaking the colony into nothing more than a floating nebula of debris.

"No..." Solo whispered, shaking his head slowly in disbelief as the only home he'd ever known died before his eyes. "No..."

He raked his hands back through his black hair, the horror growing within his bright blue eyes as pieces of the colony continued to explode to bits. The anguish rose in his chest, strangling his attempts to speak, until it burst from his lips in a loud tortured scream of grief.


	6. Chapter 5

#### Gundam Apocalypse

by Maria Rocket

Chapter Five

***

One look outside the shuttle window, and Trowa knew they were going in the right direction. All around fine gray dust was swirling. This wasn't a natural occurence on the moon, which meant something must have stirred up the surface. And the lunar base was somewhere right ahead.

"Careful..." Quatre warned from the co-pilot's seat.

With a nod, Trowa pulled the shuttle higher. This wasn't to avoid detection, since he had no doubt anyone monitoring the area could probably see them already. But he couldn't see through the dust, and wanted to get over it so he could see whatever might come at them, rock or vehicle.

Soon an enormous crater became visible beneath them. It was so deep that the bottom was just a pit of blackness. The dust continued to swirl up from its depths. Quatre narrowed his eyes. "I think...that was the base! What happened to it?"

Trowa turned his eyes from the crater towards Quatre. "Heero probably happened to it."

"I hope they made it out. Let's go down and get a better look."

As soon as they landed, they spotted someone coming towards them from behind some rocks. Despite the dark reflective visor, they could see that it was Heero. And he was carrying Milliardo.

Before Trowa could turn around, Quatre was already running for the airlock. A few minutes later, he was helping Heero lift Milliardo onto a reclined seat and pulling his astrosuit off. Trowa joined them only after he was sure there were no other spacecraft in the area.

"Just what happened out there, Heero?" Trowa looked from Milliardo to Heero, who was only just now pulling off his own helmet.

"I'm not sure." Heero watched Quatre examine Milliardo. "When we got here the place was deserted...at least from what I could see. But someone was still around, and they blew up the entire base."

"An extreme move," Quatre thought aloud. "They must have been pretty desperate to cover up their operation."

"And him?" Trowa nodded towards Milliardo.

"He was attacked by whoever it was that blew up the base. By the time I got to him, he was like this." Heero scowled and ran a hand back through his messy brown hair. "Relena's going to kill me."

"I really doubt that, Heero." Quatre was strapping down Milliardo. He looked up at Heero. "She'll be grateful you're coming back alive." Lifting his hands away from Milliardo, he frowned. "I can't find any immediate injuries... But if he isn't responding, there must've been some kind of blow to the head or something. We'd better get him back to the lunar spaceport, they've got a medical facility there."

***

"Solo..." Zara's voice echoed softly through gundam Apocalypse's comm system. When there was no reply, the voice became more urgent and concerned. "Solo! Please respond...are you okay?"

Okay? Solo stared blankly out into the display. A colony, his home, had just exploded into stardust, and she was asking if he was okay? He took a deep breath and with visible effort, pushed himself forward in his harness. The Scorpio suits had destroyed an entire colony, and nearly scrapped the Apocalypse. Any notions he might have had of playing hero were wiped out. Even with Zara's help, he knew he wasn't going to be a match against Falkner's forces. But what could he possibly do now? 

A small whisper within his mind gave him the answer. And he felt sick to his stomach. He reached for the gundam's control sticks with shaking hands.

"Solo!" Zara's voice cried out again. "We can't stay here! There's Preventer spacecraft approaching, and if they find us here...!"

With a heavy sigh, Solo switched on his comm. "Let them find us. Just don't give them any reason to attack us."

"What!?"

"Don't worry Zara, this isn't your fault. And I don't care what they do with me. But this may be the fastest way to get some real help."

There was a brief moment of silence. "I hope you know what you're doing," Zara finally sighed.

***

Heero stared through the thick pane of glass at the sterile room on the other side. Inside, Milliardo lay peacefully, connected by yards of cords to various medical diagostic equipment. He hadn't moved except to breathe since being brought to the lunar spaceport's medical facility a few hours earlier.

In a similar fashion, Heero himself had barely moved from his spot. He had yet to contact Relena, or anyone else concerning what had happened. He knew he couldn't put it off much longer. Eventually he'd have to tell her, and Lucrezia would have to be informed...

It was all his fault. Heero glared at his reflected image in the glass. Because of him, Duo was dead. And because of him, Duo's son Solo had grown up alone, nearly crazed with pain, and was now lost somewhere. And because of him, Milliardo was like this. Heero's muscles tightened, and he felt the gunshot wound on his shoulder rip a terrible pain through him. He didn't even flinch.

Feeling a light touch on his arm, however, did make Heero jump a bit. He turned with a frown. Quatre quickly removed his hand and tucked it into his pocket.

"No change?" Quatre asked, not looking at Milliardo, but watching Heero with those deep blue eyes. Heero knew the blonde had been standing there for a while. 

"None." Heero turned to look back into the room. 

"The doctors can't find a thing wrong with him," Quatre said softly, looking in as well. "He's perfectly fine. Just...he won't wake up. They think it's some kind of coma." He glanced over at Heero. "You don't have any idea what happened to him?"

Heero shook his head. "We shouldn't have split up."

Quatre sighed. "Heero, you shouldn't..."

"I am responsible. But I can't allow anymore mistakes." Heero finally turned away from the glass and walked across the room. "There's something I haven't told any of you yet."

"Bad news?" Quatre asked warily, the sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach confirming it for him.

"Yeah. When that base exploded, an entire fleet of mobile suits I've never seen before went flying out. They could be just about anywhere now." Heero stopped walking, and faced the far wall.

Quatre opened his mouth once, then closed it again. It was real. There really were mobile suits out there. The terrible possibilities played themselves out in Quatre's mind, and he shuddered.

Before either could say anything else, Trowa came walking into the room. If he had been walking any faster, he would've been jogging. Looking slightly pale, he glanced quickly between Heero and Quatre. "You guys had better get over here. An L2 colony's been destroyed, and we're getting an urgent message from a Preventer spacecraft heading out from the same area."

"A colony...?" Quatre choked on the rest of his words, and stared at Trowa, as if expecting him to deny it. Trowa only turned and headed back out, and Heero said nothing, keeping his eyes to the floor as he followed him. Quatre gave Milliardo's room behind him one more glance, swallowed, then hurried after the others.

They returned to Quatre's shuttle, where Trowa quickly brought up the Preventer message on a display. His eyes scanned the words and crossed his arms. "They captured two unidentified gundams and their pilots near the destroyed colony, but they haven't been able to get any information from them about what's happened." Trowa tilted his head and glanced over at Heero. "Except the one calling himself Solo Maxwell has said he'll only talk to Heero Yuy."

"Two gundams? Who's the other pilot?" Heero frowned.

Trowa glanced back at the screen, and his face flickered with a hint of surprise. "Zara Winner... One of your sisters, Quatre?" 

Quatre looked shocked. "Well..." His eyebrows furrowed in thought. "I guess so... I don't know all my sisters that well, but the name just doesn't sound familiar at all..."

"At any rate, now there's two gundams, and an entire fleet of new mobile suits out there." Heero stated bluntly. "And that's just what we know about."

"A fleet?" Trowa muttered and directed his gaze at Heero. 

"Yeah. That's all I know about all this." Heero looked away.

"Damn... If we're going to find out what's going on, you'd better go meet with that Preventer ship, Heero," Trowa watched as Heero stared down at the monitor. He could tell Heero was uneasy about meeting up with Solo again, despite how he had tried to search him out. 'No doubt,' Trowa thought to himself, 'Solo is dragging up all Heero's guilt over Duo's death. I hope he can hold himself together through this.'

"Heero?" Quatre stepped forward when Heero remained silent.

"Alright," Heero announced loudly. "Quatre, you and I are going to go meet up with that Preventer ship." He turned his steel eyes on Trowa. "Trowa, I want you to contact Wufei and tell him everything that's happened. It's highly likely that he's already been informed about the new gundams, but fill him in on the rest."

"Heero," Quatre interrupted, "are you sure we should get Wufei involved in this? He hasn't been in very good health lately, and this might stress..."

"He needs to know," Heero said firmly. "He's going to find out eventually, and if he can help in any way, we need it now. This situation is a timebomb waiting to take us all out."

Trowa nodded. "I'll keep in touch." He headed out towards the back the of the shuttle.

"Oh, and another thing," Heero added, in a softer voice. "Contact Relena and tell her everything's fine."

Quatre grimaced. "Heero..."

"I'll handle it all later...just keep them at ease for now. Trowa, can you do that for me?" Heero looked from Quatre to Trowa.

His lips tightened visibly, but Trowa just nodded. "Good luck, you two." As Heero headed for the shuttle cockpit, Trowa went over to Quatre and sealed his mouth to his for a brief kiss that communicated both the haste of their situation, and their feelings. For as long as he could, Quatre held the other to him as he returned the kiss, deepening it. Too soon he had to release him, and emerald and sapphire eyes met in a silent understanding as lovers became soldiers once more. Nothing left to be said, Trowa turned and left the shuttle.

***

Sitting there in the darkness, cold metal against his back, Solo listened. He could feel more than hear the vibrating humm that sang through the ship. Other than that, he could hear nothing. 

Before being put there, his mind had been buzzing as well, overwhelmed by everything that was happening to him. His life, which he used to think he had a grip on was spinning wildly out of control. But some time after he'd been separated from Zara, his mind had finally shut down. He'd drifted in and out of restless sleep so many times, he wasn't sure how much time had passed. Minutes? Hours? Days? Now he wondered why he was sitting in the dark again. Was he a caged animal? And if so, did he have whiskers?

Rubbing his hand across his jaw, he felt smooth skin. Damn. His stomach rumbled a curse as well. He was starving. "Don't they feed prisoners in this place?" Solo grumbled under his breath. He tucked his fabric worn knees up beneath his chin. "Oh well. I'll probably die of thirst first."

Solo bent his head down and folded his hands around the back of his neck with a sigh. If Zara was there with him, he knew she probably wouldn't want him to be such a pessimist.

"Mmm... At least I don't have to go to the bathroom." 

Arctic blue eyes flickered towards where he remembered the door to be. He could hear something different now. A steady sound. Footsteps. Someone was finally coming for him. The sound grew louder, until it was lost in the relative roar of the doors sliding open. Light poured in on him, and he squinted in discomfort.

"Finally come to kill me?" Solo grumbled. 

Heero stepped away from the Preventer guards flanking him, and into the cell. He had arrived aboard the ship only a few minutes ago, and had demanded to see Solo immediately. Quatre had gone down to the ship's old mobilesuit hangar to get a look at the captured gundams. Both of them felt as though they were racing against time, though they still had no idea who or what the enemy was. Heero was silent as Solo slowly pushed to his feet, sliding up against the back of the wall. There was a grim smirk on the boy's face. Then Heero watched recognition seep into his features, melting the smirk away. Solo's lips parted slightly, his face now reflecting something that Heero decided was something between anger and dread. Heero had a strong deja vu feeling.

"Heero."

"We need to talk." Heero's eyes turned to look over his shoulder. "Alone."

The two Preventer guards behind him looked uneasy with the idea, but then one gave the other a look and jerked his head back. The other blinked, then nodded. They both gave Heero one more look. "Watch yourself." Then they turned and left, closing the door behind them.

Heero turned back to look at Solo. The boy now had his eyes stuck to the floor. There in the dark, Heero felt once more that he was faced with a ghost from the past, and a troubled one at that. The silence was deafening. Heero realized he was waiting for Solo to speak. There had been a time when this boy's father would have driven him nearly homocidal trying to get a word out of him with his constant chattering. But despite the disturbing resemblance, this Maxwell was keeping his silence around him. Ironically, now Heero would have to get Duo's son to open up to him.

"Solo. What happened out there?"

Slowly, Solo lifted his head, rolled it up, and looked over at the corner of the ceiling. He now remembered asking the Preventers for Heero Yuy, but now that he was here, Solo felt very uncomfortable. Heero could provide the help that Zara needed, but his feelings concerning the man were still twisted up inside him. He tapped his fingers on the flat wall behind him as he pushed the words forth. "The colony exploded. People died."

"Did you kill them?"

Solo was silent again. Then he looked down, clutching something at his chest. "I'm not sure." He didn't move his head, but his eyes turned to glare up at Heero. "The only person I ever really wanted to kill was you."

Heero's face was hidden in the shadows cast by the hair hanging over his eyes. "Really. You've killed a lot of people, Solo. I don't know if you were responsible for that colony. But everyone at that military base back on Earth was killed. Including civilians and children."

With an audible gulp, Solo slid back against the wall and stopped when he landed on his knees. One hand remained hanging onto his shirt. "I..." His voice shook. He closed his eyes. "How's Duo?" He asked in a steadier tone.

At this, Heero's face rose into visibility, and he gave Solo a slightly curious look. "Duo's fine. Just a little banged up."

"Mmm. He's a good kid...asks too many damn questions though." He tilted his head at Heero with an almost amused expression. "I wonder where he gets it from."

"Hn. I'm afraid I have even more questions." He tucked his hands into his pockets. "Solo...I'm not going to judge you for what you've done. Of all people, I haven't the right. I'll leave that to the Preventers and yourself. But you asked to talk to me, and I'm here." Heero knelt to his eyelevel and gave him a steady stare.

"It's a long story," Solo clasped his hands in his lap. He then took a deep breath and proceeded to tell Heero everything that had happened to him at the lunar base, about the Scorpios, Prof. Falkner, Zara, the gundams, the destruction of the colony, and of course, the alien colonists.

Heero remained completely deadpan all while Solo was speaking. Though an single eyebrow arched high and disappeared into the shadows cast by his hair when Solo began talking about aliens.

***

An uneasy feeling churned within Quatre as he looked up at the two gundams being held there in the Preventer ship. He recognized the black hulk that was the Apocalypse, though he had only seen it in fleeting glimpses when it had knocked his car off the road back on Earth. He shuddered at the memory. Giving it a more technical eye, the gundam reminded him of the Deathscythe, though it was almost twice the size, and didn't look nearly as streamlined. This machine had clearly been built as a no nonsense device of destruction, with no thought to aesthetics.

The smaller violet gundam beside it was another matter. It was dwarfed in size next to the Apocalypse, smaller even than any of the original gundams. It was unlike any gundam Quatre had seen before, closer in design to the Vayeate or the Mercurius. It had a definite feminine quality to it.

'There's two of them now,' Quatre thought to himself. 'And if there's two, could there be more out there somewhere?' Feeling an intense pang of nervousness, Quatre turned his head to see two men in Preventer jackets towards the far end of the hangar looking at the gundams and whispering. They didn't look any different than any of the others about their business around him, but they radiated trouble to Quatre.

***

Pacing in the darkness, Zara waited anxiously. The tiny cell was smothering her. All her life she'd lived in little spaces, tucked into the extremes are dark and light. Even in the vastness space, she was confined in the tight cockpit of a mobile suit. She thought of the Earth, that small blue sphere that promised wide reaching shadows. Since learning of it, she'd wanted to go there. Big and blue...like Solo's eyes.

Wondering what the Preventers had done with Solo, she stuck her fingers back into her brown hair as her face scrunched up in irritation. Part of her debated escaping and leaving Solo behind. He'd gotten them caught on purpose, and seemed to be too emotionally distraught to be any help to her or anyone. It was no wonder Solo had fallen out of Falkner's control. 

Dropping her arms to her sides, Zara swayed back and forth slightly on her heels. 'Falkner was a fool for training Solo. Solo was a fool for letting us get captured by the Preventers, which limits our freedom and makes us easy targets for anyone, including Falkner's agents. And I'm a fool for trusting Solo.' She stood still. 'I wish I knew what he's up to...' 

Zara paced around the cell. "I have to get us out of here," she muttered. 

The cell door opened, and Zara spun around in shock. She quickly composed herself and looked away. It was two men in Preventer jackets. For a moment, she'd been afraid it was Falkner's agents come to take her away. These Preventers, she could ignore. She had already made it clear that she wouldn't tell them anything. The only reason they'd gotten her name was because it had been labeled in her astrosuit, which had been checked for hidden weapons. She wanted to talk to Solo first, and they had kept them separated since being captured.

"You're Zara Winner, right?" One of them asked gruffly.

Zara nodded curtly. "Can I see Solo now?"

"Sorry," the other man reached into his pocket. "It's time for you take a little nap." He pulled a syringe out of his pocket and slid the cap off the needle. 

"What!?" Not needles! Zara's green eyes widened in fear, and she backed away. She absolutely hated needles. Growing up in a lab, most of her first memories involved needles and pain. Always labeled syringes, just like the one in his hand... "You're not Preventers..."

"We've come to take you home."

The one without the syringe reached out and grabbed her arm. Zara struggled, everything she knew about self-defense suddenly leaving her in her panic. She tried to scream as she was pinned against the wall, but his hand crushed against her mouth. Finally, she pulled back her knee and kicked the one restraining her as hard as she could in the groin.

He yelped went down, but at the same instant, Zara felt a stab in her arm. She turned to swipe at the other man, but she was already weak, and he easily caught her striking arm. "Enough of that," he told her firmly as he removed the needle. He quickly caught her as she completely passed out and fell forward.

His partner shakily pulled himself in anger. "Damn freak... If she wasn't worth so much to Falkner, I'd teach her a thing or two."

"Just help me carry her. We have to get out of here before anybody finds out she's missing." As he started dragging her, a shadow fell across the doorway. The two men looked up at the rather unintimidating figure in their way.

"What are you doing here?" Quatre demanded. Not only did the situation feel wrong to him, but he didn't like the way they were handling the girl. If these men were Preventers, he would have words with their superior officer. However, he doubted it would be so simple. His blue eyes flashed as he saw the one not carrying the girl reach for something that glinted silver...

***

Now sitting on his heels on the floor, Heero watched Solo closely from behind where he rested his chin in his hand, hiding his face from the nose down. "Tell me more about the girl."

"Zara?" Solo had been fooling around with the end of his braid, but dropped it when he noticed what he was doing. "I'm not sure. She says she was one of Falkner's lab rats, being trained as a mobile suit pilot. She helped me escape, but beyond that, I don't really know anything."

"Hmm." Heero frowned. "Do you trust her?" 

Solo's eyes turned into saucers, surprising Heero. He'd seen a similar expression on Duo's face enough times to be familiar with it, but it looked strangely out of place on Solo's usually subdued facade.

"I don't know," Solo finally mumbled, hooding his eyes into obscurity. "She saved my life..."

A corner of Heero's mouth quirked up. "Guess I'll have to talk to her myself. Now, about that other gundam..."

A shot blasted down the corridor, echoing loudly. Heero immediately jumped to his feet and rushed to the door.

"What the hell was that!?" Solo yelled, jumping to his feet as well, stumbling forward a few steps.

"Sounds like trouble. And the door is locked," Heero answered gravely.

***

Quatre threw himself out of the way before the bullet was even fired. Now he was inside the cell with them. With a startling cry, he knocked into the man with the gun, and ended up struggling with him for control of the weapon.

"Damn, it's Winner," the other snapped. "Of all the... Don't shoot him!" He pushed Zara aside and reached into his pocket for the syringe again. "I hope there's enough...we're just going to have to take him too. Let Falkner decide how to handle this."

Hearing the approach behind him, Quatre's strained face whipped around, as did his leg. In a fast, hard sweep, Quatre's kick found its mark in the man's midsection. The syringe went flying across the room and the glass shattered on the hard floor. The man who had been holding it slammed back on the same hard floor, and the impact to his head knocked him out cold.

The armed man took advantage of Quatre's sudden distraction by punching him hard in the gut. The blonde man doubled over with a rasp. Still, his grip on the gun remained as firm as before. Seeing the guard's fist coming for his face this time, Quatre reached out and grabbed it before it could find its mark. But his legs were starting to slide and give under the guard's greater weight.

"You're in over your pretty head," the guard growled. "Give up before I'm forced to kill you."

"Don't call me pretty," Quatre grunted. Moving faster than the larger man could react, he shifted his body to the side and kicked out at his knees. In seconds, Quatre had smashed him into the floor, with his knee on his chest. The gun went clattering out of their grasp. The guard only had time to cry out in pain and shock before Quatre's hand darted to his throat, sending him into darkness.

With a disgusted sigh, Quatre removed his hand when he was certain the other man was unconscious. Then he lifted his knee up and pushed off of him, picking up the dropped gun as he went. Brushing his blonde hair away from his face, he knelt next to Zara with a worried look. He touched her face to make sure she was still breathing.

Zara stirred slightly at his touch, but did not awaken. Setting the gun aside, Quatre cradled her gently. He stared at her face, a mild confusion settling over him. She was evoking emotions within him, but he couldn't identify what they were. The light from the doorway lay across her features and highlighted her auburn hair in a way that when he looked at her, Quatre found himself thinking of Trowa. He quickly dismissed the thought and the strange feelings, moving to lift her up.

"Who are you?" Quatre whispered. "You're only a girl, too young to be one of my sisters..." 

A loud metallic screech ripped through Quatre's thoughts, and he looked up. Down the corridor, Heero was pulling the formerly locked cell door open with his bare hands. Solo just stood behind him and stared in disbelief as Heero crushed the metal on either side of his hands, pretty much destroying the doors in the process of forcing it open. Solo was suddenly glad he had never attempted to take on Heero in hand to hand combat. When Heero ran down the corridor, Solo followed close behind.

"Looks like someone wanted her kidnapped," Quatre called to them, carrying Zara out into the corridor.

"Zara!?" Seeing Zara limp in Quatre's arms, Solo rushed ahead of Heero. He came to a reluctant halt about a foot away. "What happened to her?"

"They injected her with something," Quatre glanced back at the dark cell behind him as Heero closed and locked it. "I'm taking her to sickbay," he called back as he started at a careful run away from the cellblock.

"I'm coming too!" Solo started to run after them, but Heero quickly caught his arm.

"Until I can get all of this explained, you stay right by me," Heero told him sternly. "We'll both go with them." He looked up as four officers came running up with their weapons drawn. "Everything's under control here." Heero pointed towards the locked cell. "Keep that locked. The men inside just tried to kidnap the girl, and I want to question them when they wake up. I'm keeping the pilot prisoners under my watch until the security around here is to my satisfaction."

"Sir, you can't...!" One of the senior officers began to protest.

Heero turned and glared at him. "Take it up with Sally Chang. Or would you rather just take it up with me right now?"

Solo tucked his hands behind his head and turned away slightly. He did turn his head to look back, and gave the senior officer a swift shake of the head and a nervous warning expression. Solo just hoped the guy had sense.

"I...I'll inform Commander Chang," the officer stuttered. He needed no warning glances with Heero's reputation.

***

Only a few minutes later, Heero was standing in the sickbay with Quatre listening to the ship's doctor. Solo just sat quietly at Zara's bedside, looking at nothing in particular. The girl was still asleep.

"If there's any problems, just call, I'll be nearby," the doctor told them, placing her hand on the door. Then she left the room, briefly revealing guards standing outside before the door closed again. 

Hearing Quatre and Heero approach, Solo looked up. "What's wrong with Zara? Is she going to die?" He looked as if he expected it.

"No," Quatre shook his head and smiled. "She's just been injected with a tranquilizer. The doctor says it should wear off in about a few hours." He blinked and furrowed his brows slightly noticing Solo staring at him. "...Ummm?"

"It's just..." Solo looked from Quatre to Zara uncertainly. Now he remembered where he'd heard Zara's last name before. Quatre Raberba Winner had been one of the five gundam pilots from the Eve Wars. 'Are they related?' He thought to himself.

Heero was looking at Zara as well. "I see what he's saying. She looks a lot like you, Quatre. But she's just a teenager. Too young to be one of your sisters, but there's definitely a family resemblance there."

"Yeah, I know." Quatre gave Zara a quizzical glance, then looked back up at Heero. "I'm not sure, but I think she could be one of my nieces. I'm going to be making a lot of calls, see if any of my sisters can shed some light on this."

"You do that," Heero agreed. "I'll make sure these two don't get into anymore trouble in here."

After Quatre left sickbay to make the calls in his private quarters, Heero's gaze turned to the nearby monitor. He wondered how Relena and Duo were doing back on Earth. Had Trowa called them? He didn't look forward to facing his wife about Milliardo's condition, but he was beginning to give in to the idea of a short call... Then he noticed the red light blinking near the screen. As expected, a shrill buzzer soon followed the blinking light.

"Sickbay here," Heero almost sighed, after switching on the monitor. Only a voice responded.

"Sir, we're picking up a transmission from the moon, from Trowa Barton. Something is interfering with the signal, but it looks urgent."

"Send it through."

Solo was half listening from where he sat. But mostly he was now staring over at Zara's still form with sleepy eyes. Although he'd been sleeping on and off in his cell, he still felt exhausted. And now he was afraid to sleep. Hearing the screen crackle to life behind him, Solo continued to keep watch on Zara, feeling beneath his shirt, the small shape of a cross.

"Heero...Quat...ere...distu..." Trowa's image appeared on the scrambled screen, occasionally reaching out of view with a slight grimace. However, the transmission was almost impossible to hear through the static, and the fizzling picture flipped in a dizzy way. Heero could barely make out part of what Trowa was trying to say. "...sight ...Rele... first... Mill..ardo... will...Mars... check as...meet...." Then the transmission broke off into a faint whitish glow on the pitch black screen.

Heero inclined his head slightly in deep thought. Then he turned around and leaned back against the screen. His eyes wandered to the thick black braid that hung down the side of Solo's chair and frowned.

"Solo, what do you know about Mars?"


	7. Chapter 6

#### Gundam Apocalypse

by Maria Rocket

Chapter Six

***

It took her a while to get there with her leg in a cast, but Relena finally answered the front door. She was hoping to find Heero there, though she knew it was unlikely he would have returned from space so soon. Instead she found herself facing Sally Chang and her small daughter. Relena's face lit up with surprise.

"Sally! I'm sorry I kept you waiting, but I recently had an accident, and it's a little hard to get around." Relena was beginning to consider calling the servants back to the house to help with Duo, but she had been feeling somewhat paranoid about having anyone else around after everything that had happened. She didn't think she'd feel right again until Heero returned home. "Please, come inside! What are you doing here? With all that awful business that's going on in space, I would have thought you'd already be on a shuttle off the planet."

"So you've been watching the news," Sally and her daughter followed Relena inside. "There hasn't been anything this serious underway since Mariemaia. And the worst thing about it is that we have no idea what's really going on. We've picked up two new gundams and their pilots, but so far no one's been able to find out anything from them."

"Another gundam?" Relena automatically sent a worried glance towards the stairway. Then she smiled down at Sally's daughter. She was no older than her own son, so young and innocent of the problems of an old world. "Tina, I think your mommy and I are going to have a long talk. Maybe you should go upstairs and play with Duo, I'm sure he'd love to see you again."

The little girl's short honey-colored pigtails swung on either side of her head as she turned her glittering obsidian eyes up towards her mother. Those eyes seemed to be begging for mercy. Sally just smiled knowingly and shook her head. "That's a good idea. Go along and play now."

With a sigh of defeat, the little girl blew at her bangs and shuffled up the stairs.

***

In the dim light of the sickbay within the Preventer's starship, soft copper-brown eyelashes fluttered open over forest eyes. Zara felt a little lightheaded, and very confused. Glancing to the side, she saw medical equipment blinking its tiny lights at her. This wasn't the barren cell she'd been in. Where was she now? She couldn't remember.

Slowly pushing herself up on her elbows, she heard a soft choked sound. Turning towards the sound, she saw Solo sitting in a chair beside her bed. He was asleep. His arms were crossed, and his head hung slack over his chest. The black hair that fell in his eyes cast most of his face in shadow. But the faint medical lights reflected in the bright trails that ran down his cheeks.

Zara shook her head ever so slightly. He was crying in his sleep again.

Sitting up on the bed so that her legs hung over the side, Zara rubbed at her sore shoulder. Now she remembered. Falkner's men had come for her, and she'd been knocked out. A shot of fear ran coldly through her, and she looked around nervously. Were they in another lab?

Jumping off the bed, she swayed uneasily on her feet for a moment, then turned back towards Solo. She shook his shoulder urgently. "Solo!" She whispered. "Solo, wake up!"

"Maybe you should let him sleep. It's always a good idea to sleep when you can, especially in times like these. Besides, I'd like to talk to you alone, if I may."

"Who?" Zara nearly jumped a mile at the sound of the strange voice. She whirled around, her eyes immediately darting towards the shadows. However, the stranger was standing in the lighted doorway.

"I'm Quatre," he smiled.

"You sure it isn't Dr. Quatre?" Zara narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

"I'm sure."

"So then what are you doing here?" As Quatre stepped forward slightly, she leaned back slightly as she got a better look at him. She knew she'd never seen him before, but there was something very familiar about him that she just couldn't place. She didn't feel comfortable with him getting much closer, but she was curious now.

The blonde man smiled and shrugged. "It's my turn to keep a watch on you two. And like I said, I wanted to talk to you."

"About what? I'm not piloting anything for Falkner anymore, so he can just forget it. I'm tired of being his prize labrat."

"Hmm?" Quatre blinked with a confused expression. Then it melted away, and he laughed softly. "Oh... Don't worry, you're still here on the Preventers ship. This is the sickbay."

As he said this, Zara mirrored his previous confused look. "So they didn't get us?"

Quatre shook his head.

"Oh..."

"Zara." Suddenly serious, Quatre turned his head down to look at her directly. "Who are you?"

The girl hesitated for a moment before replying. "My name is Zara Winner. If you've been talking to those guys that interrogated me until they were blue in the face, you should know that already. I can't tell you anymore than that."

"Why not?"

Zara mumbled underneath her breath.

Quatre was clearly frustrated, but he only sighed and persisted gently. "Look, I've searched for an answer for hours, but no one in the Winner family seems to know who you are. I know you're not lying, but can't you tell me a little more about yourself? I only want to help you. You couldn't have just come out of thin air."

Zara leaned back against the side of the bed, seeming to withdraw into herself until she was nearly expressionless. "I did."

"I don't believe that." Quatre frowned. "Listen. My name is Quatre Raberba Winner. Do you know who I am? I find most of my family knows who I am, even if I don't always know who they are."

Zara stared at him. Slowly, a look of despair soaked into her features. "I don't know you..." Her emerald eyes were suddenly bright with tears.

Before he knew what he was doing, Quatre had her in a close embrace. He closed his eyes as the small form sobbed against him, feeling lost. His space heart was whispering something to him, but he couldn't understand what it was. All he knew at the moment was that he wanted to protect her, against whatever it was out there that had tried to take her away.

"It's okay," he murmured. "It's okay."

***

With only the humming of the engines and the metallic click beneath his boots as company, Heero made his way towards the sickbay. Solo hadn't been able to tell him anything about Falkner's possible activities on Mars, leaving them in the dark as to what was going on there. There had been no more messages from Trowa. Feeling uneasy about the whole situation, Heero had commanded the ship on a course to Mars.

On his way to sickbay, he stopped by the bridge. They were almost on top of the planet. He stepped in among the officers, nearly scaring them out of their wits. 

"Have you tried reaching the Terraformer Command Station?" 

The bridge's commanding officer didn't meet Heero's intimidating stare. "Yes, but we aren't getting any response. And we're not close enough yet to attempt communication with the surface."

Heero frowned, making the officer cringe slightly. "Why isn't the station responding?"

"Can't say, sir."

The sinking feeling in Heero's gut went into a trench. "Head for that station," he ordered gruffly. "And speed it up."

He didn't wait for the officer's confirmation. Heero turned around and left the bridge, continuing on towards the sickbay. He had to inform Quatre of the newest development in their deadly chase. He only hoped Trowa hadn't met up with more than he could handle by himself. 

***

Little Duo Peacecraft's blue eyes stared at his mini-laptop. He had sent several e-mails to his father, but he hadn't received any reply. With a sigh, he rolled from a crosslegged position onto his back, his arms outstretched as he stared at the ceiling in boredom. He wanted to know what was going on. He was tired of being too small and stuck in his room. He sent the happy-faced balloon floating overhead a well-practiced scowl.

Squeak, squeak. Scuff, scuff.

Hearing sneakers dragging on the carpet, Duo blinked out of his scowl into wide-eyed curiosity. His mother never dragged her feet on the carpet like that. Who was there?

Pushing himself back up, he saw a little girl standing at the doorway to his room. She stared back at him, looking at him as if he were the most despicable creature she'd ever seen. Duo smiled brightly, remembering seeing her before at one of his parents' parties. 

"Hi Tina!"

Tina grumbled and edged away towards a window. She pulled herself up on the ledge and sat there, staring out at the cloudy sky. "Hi loudmouth."

"What are you doing here?"

"My Mom made me come up here." When she saw him try to get on the window ledge as well, she held him back with one foot. "Stay back, you're not getting your boy cooties on me again!"

Duo pouted. "Why are you so mean to me!?"

"Because, you're a stupid boy."

"Meanie." Duo made a face at her. "Did you know my Dad's up in space right now?"

"I think that's where my Dad is too. My Mom can't find him. That's why we're here, I think. She's trying to find him." Tina's big almond eyes were suddenly filled with anxiety.

"You too?" Then Duo noticed her face and blinked. He didn't like seeing other people upset. So he went and gave her a big hug.

***

"Wufei's missing?" Relena watched Sally pace around the room nervously. She had come to Relena hoping she knew his whereabouts, as well as to check in on her, but she hadn't been able to tell her anything. Relena wasn't even sure where her own husband was now. Trowa had contacted her days earlier to assure her everything was fine, but he hadn't elaborated much, and she had felt that something wasn't right. "You don't think he went into space after Heero and the others, do you?"

"That's what I thought at first, but when I contacted the Preventers ship carrying the gundams, they said he wasn't onboard." Sally's body shook in a burst of frustration. "Relena, he's still ill with that virus, his body can't take this kind of excitement! I can't believe he took off like that!"

Relena sighed and nodded in sympathy. "I know how you feel, believe me. But even if he hasn't reached the Preventers ship yet, it's most likely that he's gone after the others." She grimaced slightly. "No doubt Heero or one of the other pilots are behind this."

Rubbing her forehead, Sally nodded, frowning deeply at the floor. "You're right, Relena. And I think it's about time I went up there myself to get to the bottom of all this madness. Heero's re-routed the ship to Mars, I should be able to rendezvous with them there. With any luck, I'll catch Wufei as well."

"Why are they going to Mars?" 

"I'm not entirely sure," Sally paced around Relena a bit. "Something about a message from Trowa. I'm just trusting Heero's judgment on this one."

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeee!!!"

Both women startled at the sound of Tina screaming upstairs. Immediately, Sally ran up towards Duo's room, while Relena hobbled after her as fast as she could. Sally rushed into the room in time to see Tina smack Duo hard in the face, knocking the little boy to the floor.

"OW!" 

"Tina!" Sally scolded sharply, picking up the girl by the wrist and pulling her up. Tina tried her best to look innocent, but it obviously wasn't working. "Don't hit people! Apologize right now."

"Sorry," the girl in pigtails mumbled to the little boy, sulking.

Duo just stared at her with an unreadable wide-eyed expression. He rubbed at his face, his blue eyes glittering.

At the doorway, Relena shook her head with a relieved sigh and turned to Sally with an almost amused look. "Well, if you're going into space, you can leave Tina here with me if you want. I'll do my best to keep them from tearing into each other."

Sally smiled gratefully. "Appreciated."

***

Hearing the soft sounds of conversation, Solo awoke. He frowned at the familiar wetness on his face, and rubbed at his face. Then he turned to see who was there with him. It didn't sound like Heero was around anymore.

He recognized Zara's voice before he saw her. She was sitting on one of the medical beds in the corner. Next to her was a blonde man, listening with a soft nod every once in a while. Solo recognized him from earlier. Quatre. He looked at them both with a grim curiousity. Just what was their connection anyway?

Pushing his black bangs back from his face, Solo stood without making a sound. Then he silently walked over to where they were, listening to them without being noticed.

"Twenty-nine sisters?" Zara giggled. "Wow, it must be impossible to keep track of them all. Maybe I'm your long lost little sister."

Quatre grinned and rocked his folded hands between his knees. "Yeah, I forget some of their names sometimes, or get them confused, and it can be embarrassing. I'm afraid you couldn't be one of my sisters though, since I'm youngest in my family."

"And you're old enough to be my father," Zara sighed.

"Hey, I'm not THAT old," Quatre protested with a weak smile. 

"Sorry, cheap shot," Zara apologized sheepishly.

As still as a statue, Solo stared at Zara. Just what had she been doing in Falkner's labs? Had she been born there, or had she just been trained there from a very young age? He frowned, taking in her coppery hair that waved down, curling past her shoulders. He couldn't imagine a pretty girl like that living cooped up in a lab all her life. She looked like she belonged out somewhere natural, like a park or a forest, like a deer, or a wildcat with those green eyes...

He blinked. His mind was wandering. What were they talking about now?

He didn't get to listen in any longer, as suddenly the sickbay door whooshed open, and a heavy command brought the lights back to full illumination. He turned to see Heero walking towards them. Then he turned back to see Zara and Quatre looking back at him in surprise.

"When did you get up?" Zara slid off the bed to stand on her feet. "Have you been spying on us?"

Solo closed his eyes and shook his head. "I couldn't sleep, so I decided to stand here."

Heero looked between the two briefly with a seemingly cold glance, then turned to Quatre. "Quatre, we'll be reaching the planet soon."

"That's good," Quatre, who had also stood, stepped over towards Heero. "Any more word from Trowa?"

"None." Heero turned away slightly. "In fact, we're not getting any kind of response from Mars' Terraformer Station at all. In a few minutes we should be able to contact the planet's surface, but I've got a bad feeling about this. We'd better prepare ourselves for the worst."

Quatre's face transformed into a grim mask as he searched Heero's eyes. "Heero..."

"There's no telling what we might find." Heero turned back to give him a hard stare, but there was a softer understanding deep in his eyes. "I won't hold it against you if you choose to stay onboard while I take a team out to investigate. In fact, it might be in everyone's best interest."

"N-No," Quatre's voice wobbled. "There's no way I'm staying here. I'll come with you." He pushed his hands into the pockets of his Preventers jacket and glanced over at Solo and Zara, who were discreetly listening in. "I'm sure Trowa's waiting for us."

"Quatre..." Heero warned.

"Don't worry about it Heero," Quatre waved the matter away as if it were a gnat buzzing at him. He looked over at Zara. "Come on Zara, you can come with me while I get a unit ready to shuttle out."

Zara glanced over at Solo, who just looked back, before following Quatre out of sickbay. Heero sent a disapproving look after them as they left, but said nothing. After the doors shut, he turned back towards Solo, who was standing there silently, staring down at nothing in particular.

"Hn... Well, c'mon with me then. You can help me in the weapons hold." He sent a meaningful glare at the dark braided boy. "But if you have any sense, you won't try anything funny."

Solo looked up at Heero with his large blue eyes. "You don't, I won't."

Heero stared at Solo a moment longer, then closed his eyes and nodded. Then he turned and led the way out of sickbay.

***

As the shuttle approached the Terraformer Command Station, orbiting the red planet below, Quatre couldn't help but notice how dead it looked floating there. It was completely without any lights, and one side of the structure looked as if it had been ripped apart. The closer they got, he could see scar-like rips on almost every surface of the station.

Behind him, he could feel the apprehension in the four officers and the two children. He still felt uncomfortable with bringing them along, but Heero hadn't wanted to leave them alone. Heero was worried too, but he was trying to focus on the situation. Quatre's gloved hands tightened on the hard, smooth surface of the helmet of his astrosuit before putting it on.

Before they'd left the Preventers craft, it had been confirmed that lifesigns in the broken station were very faint. His chest tightened. He was determined to keep calm for the sake of the others. After all, they were still waiting for a response from the surface.

Once they were docked into the station, Heero turned to the others as he was fastening his helmet on. "Stay close, and stay alert."

There was a soft hissing sound as the door opened, and Heero half walked, and half floated out, followed by Quatre, Solo, Zara, and the four officers. The inside of the station was almost pitch black, and as quiet as only space can be. Although they each carried powerful flashlights, Heero lit the way, cutting through with an almost grey light. It revealed mostly floating debris and swirling particles of dust.

Then as they approached the command center, the light hit onto a dead body, mangled and bleeding from exposure to the vacuum. Zara shrieked and clutched onto Solo's arm. The boy was so startled himself, that he barely noticed. He looked away as Heero diverted the light towards a computer panel up ahead. 

"This is terrible," Quatre sighed, sounding scratchy through the commlink. Despite the dark, it was clear that many such forms were floating deadweight around them.

One of the officers joined Heero next to the computer's control panel. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to get this computer back online." Heero pryed off one of the control panels with little effort. "Maybe we can find out what happened here. You stay here and help me. Quatre, you take the others and search for survivors. There's someone still here. Stay in contact at all times."

Quatre nodded. "Be careful."

***

Searching through the rest of the station uncovered more scenes like the one they'd found in the command center. To cover ground more quickly, Quatre had split them into two groups, sending the three officers to search one end of the station while he took Solo and Zara to search the other. But as they went, it was only dead body after dead body, and he was losing hope. It was beginning to look like any life signs they might have detected had since faded away. The light in his hand shook slightly. He quietly prayed each time his light fell onto another lifeless body that he wouldn't find it was Trowa floating there, eyeless and bloodied...

He swallowed audibly, and the two lights darting around behind him flew towards him in alarm. He only waved them onward. Once again wishing they had been left behind on the ship, he tried to hurry them along. They shouldn't have to see such horrible things. 

"Watch your step," he warned as they moved into an area where most of the ceiling seemed to have come crashing down. As they had in similar areas they'd come across, they began a careful search through the wreckage. Dead wires hung from the ceiling like thick jungle vines and small exotic jungle snakes. 

Solo turned his flashlight towards the floor as one of the wires seemed to fall away to the floor. He frowned and stepped closer. Curiously, he reached out to touch it. It tugged away from his hand, as if trying to escape beneath a section of the wall that had been crushed beneath the fallen ceiling. Wondering what was making the wire taunt, he directed his light on it, and reached down to try tugging it out.

As he did, a small gloved hand poked out from beneath the wreckage, the fingers flexing desperately. Then he heard the small voice come through the commlink in his helmet.

"Help me... Can't get out..."

"Huh?" Solo reached down and touched the fingers. His ice blue eyes widened in shock as they moved against his. "Hey guys, I think I found somebody alive over here!" He tried pulling the fallen ceiling up himself, but it was stuck tight.

"Help!" The voice cried louder, definitely a girl's voice. "I'm down here! Please get me out!"

Then Quatre and Zara were there, helping him pull at the wreckage. After a good minute of dragging and a few good placed kicks, it finally moved, and they were able to lift it. Solo looked down and could see the girl down in the darkness. Still holding up on his side as well as he could with one hand and a foot, he reached out to her with one hand. 

"Get her out!" Quatre barked, feeling the metal start to slip. Even in zero gravity, the unstable structure was too much to handle.

Reaching so far he was afraid he might be killed if the ceiling were to fall again, Solo snagged the cowering girl by the shoulder and yanked her out. Her light form flew out easily, nearly knocking him over with her momentum. Quatre and Zara dropped the ceiling and leapt back lightly as even more of the surrounding wall started crumbling into pieces.

As the dust swirled around them anew, there was a moment of apprehension, but when the room didn't collapse around them, they turned their attention and their lights towards the girl now clinging to Solo. She was shivering in fright and cold, and two bright blue eyes stared out at him beneath strands of light purple hair from behind her helmet's faceplate. 

"Aleta!? Is that you?" Quatre took the girl by the shoulder and turned her around to get a better look at her. She didn't look much younger than Solo or Zara, but he knew she was only ten years old. He watched as recognition materialized in her eyes. "What happened? Where's your mother?"

"Uncle Quatre?" Aleta blinked. She flung herself from Solo into Quatre's arms. "Uncle Quatre! Everything was shaking, and Mom made me put on a suit and told me to stay low to the ground..." she sobbed. "It felt like the entire station was being ripped apart, and then it fell on me and I couldn't get out. And no one would come back for me..."

"Well, we'll get you out of here now," Quatre soothed, feeling the tears welling up in his own eyes as well. Was Lucrezia still somewhere on the station? Alive? He avoided the question by asking about the other matter troubling his heart. "Aleta, was Trowa on the station?"

"Uncle Trowa?" Aleta looked up at him, then over at Zara and Solo. "I saw him for a little while yesterday."

Quatre felt his chest hitch up. 

Solo glanced over at Zara curiously, noticing the girl suddenly look very uneasy. He frowned slightly, hoping she wasn't going to start bawling too. It made him uncomfortable.

"But," Aleta added, "he left on a shuttle before anything happened. I think he went down to the surface. He hasn't come back either."

A wave of hope strengthened Quatre. Maybe, just maybe... He took Aleta by the hand and turned to leave the room. "Let's get back to the command center. We've done all we can here."

***

A few minutes later, everyone had regrouped in the command center, where Heero had just finished restoring what power he could to the main computer. The screen flickered softly, casting a sickly blue light on his face. He turned to Quatre while the officers made another routine report back to the ship. His eyes fell on Aleta.

Heero smiled softly, for the first time since leaving home. "Aleta," he asked in the voice usually heard only by his family, "I didn't expect to see you here. I thought you were living on the surface."

"We move back and forth between the planet and the station," Aleta explained. "It depends on what Mom and Dad are working on during the year." Her eyes widened slightly and looked between Heero and the others. "Did my Mom and Dad come with you?"

Heero's soft expression dampened, and he looked away from his niece and back towards the computer. "Your father couldn't come with us. And I'm afraid I don't know where your mother is."

Quatre shook his head slightly. He knew Heero was still beating himself up over what had happened to Milliardo. More than before, he prayed they would find Lucrezia safe. If not... He knew Heero might never forgive himself. He looked worriedly at Aleta, who had become quiet. Then feeling eyes on him, glanced over to find Zara watching him. He just blinked curiously.

A sudden storm of crackling static turned all faces back towards the computer monitor as Heero patched them into the system. Suddenly, Trowa's face broke through the static on the screen, looking near panic. The image was shaking so much it was hard to say whether or not the background was shaking or not, but there was a deafening noise that made what Trowa was shouting barely audible.

"Evacuate! Evacuate now! They're heading right for..." Then the noise drowned out Trowa's voice and he flinched as something knocked him over. Then something dark fell into view and the screen fell back into static.

"Trowa!" His blue eyes wide with fright, Quatre nearly knocked Heero out of the way. "Trowa, it's Quatre, please reply!"

Heero caught Quatre's arm tightly. "It's no good, he can't hear you. The signal was received from the surface several hours ago. It's just a recording."

One of the officers stepped up beside them. "Sirs, the ship is reporting no other lifesigns on the station other than ourselves. This place is completely dead." He finished quietly.

Zara, Solo, Aleta, and the officers stood watching with an air of anxiety as Heero stood in silent consideration. Finally, Quatre frowned and took a step back, getting his attention.

"Heero, we need to go down to the planet's surface. If Trowa's still alive, then I'm going to find him." 


	8. Chapter 7

Gundam Apocalypse   
by Maria Rocket  
  
***  
  
Author's Notes: Another sign of the coming end, I completed another chapter of this baby! Wah, this was my first GW fic, I'm too sentimental to just abandon it, y'know! A big thank you to everyone who poked and prodded at me about this. Everytime I got a comment about it, I would remember I had to get going on continuing this. I'm still a little unhappy with some of the previous chapters, and I still intend to overhaul a few things. But since it probably wouldn't impact the story in any major way, and I take 'til forever, I figured I'd just continue on in the meantime. Anyhoooo... the evil GW NextGen fic is back! Flee for your lives!!!!  
  
***  
  
Chapter Seven  
  
***  
  
"I don't want to sit around in here!" Solo complained loudly.   
  
"Well, you're going to." Heero strapped a weapon across his astrosuit. Quatre and three of the Preventer officers they'd brought along did the same. "This isn't like the space station. The ship reported a signal being broadcast from here that's interfering with its sensors. And there's another signal being sent from this area towards Earth. Whoever's sending those signals is probably still here."  
  
"Or whatever," Solo muttered. "Me an' Zara know more about what's going on than you do! You need us!"  
  
"Solo." Quatre cut in before Heero could reply. "Whatever's out there, we'll deal with it. You and Zara need to stay with Officer Rand and protect Aleta." He glanced over at the girl sitting near the back of the shuttle. Her worried blue eyes were hiding behind long purple hair. "Please?"  
  
"Mmph... Fine. But if you guys can't make it out of there, we're all pretty much screwed anyway, aren't we?" Solo stalked back to his seat. He dropped back into it, slouching down with a scowl.  
  
"Thank you," Quatre smiled, fastening his helmet with a hiss of pressurizing air. He turned to join the officers in the airlock, pausing only briefly as he walked down the aisle to give Zara's shoulder a reassuring squeeze with a gloved hand. The girl had her green eyes cast towards the floor, only glancing up curiously once the blonde man had passed by.   
  
Heero watched Solo for a moment before turning towards Officer Rand. "With any luck, we may return in an hour." He spoke quietly. "But if the situation gets out of hand, just take the shuttle and get them back to the ship, understand?"  
  
"Yes, sir."  
***  
  
Beyond the small spaceport, the dark and weathered terraformation base towered on the horizon. It was enormous, sprawling along the rust-red dust and rocks of the Martian landscape. It was the heart of a new world, but there was no spark of life to be seen within it. A red sandstorm still raged about it, but Heero could see the damage done to the complex. Like the space station, it looked as though it had been ripped into.   
  
The wind fighting against them as they reached the shadow of the complex howled like lost souls in anguish. Quatre shuddered at the sound. It increased in volume when Heero cracked open the sand-encrusted doors. The metal squealed as Heero pushed it aside, revealing a long dark hallway.  
  
"Great, no lights." One of the officers moaned.  
  
Quatre searched the ceiling in tight-lipped irritation, then pulled open a velcro pocket on the leg his astrosuit with a crackle barely heard over the wind. He withdrew a narrow flashlight and clicked it on, illuminating a portion of the hallway. Around him, the others did the same, and the darkness came alive with moving beams of light.  
  
As they moved through the station, Quatre felt as he had up on the space station. Except a thousand times worse. It wasn't as cold, but the darkness seemed alive, ready to swallow them whole. Quatre imagined he heard growls and wails coming from something terrible lurking in the shadows, though his logical mind knew it was only the sound of weary metal and machinery, and the wind beating down outside. Still, knowing these things didn't make him feel any better. Something was very wrong.  
  
"Where is everybody?"   
  
Heero's voice startled the others badly. Quatre's nerves were so on edge, he had to restrain himself from snapping back at Heero. Then he realized what Heero had said, and blinked. The feeling of wrongness...  
  
"That's right..." Quatre looked from Heero towards the others, then back around the wherehouse-like area they were currently in. "We should have seen sign of someone by now. Even at the station there were..."  
  
Heero nodded. "I don't like this."  
  
"What's there been to like since this started?" One of the officers turned his flashlight towards a door leading to another room. "God, I feel like I'm in one of those movies where the monster waits until you're right on top of it before it kills you."  
  
"You might be closer to the truth than you know," Heero answered dryly.  
  
Very disturbed, all the officers looked back at Heero, who was then too busy noticing that Quatre was wandering off. Opening the illuminated door, Quatre pushed it open and went inside.   
  
There was more dust in that room than any of the others they'd been in. Quatre climbed over fallen computers and mangled metal structures. Looking at the walls, he suspected the room had once been much smaller. Something had expanded the area by ripping out a few walls. Moving towards one of the walls still standing, Quatre ran his fingertips along a crusty control panel, leaving a clean streak behind. The monitors above the panel had been burned and destroyed. Quatre paused, looking from the monitors towards the dark abyss of destruction behind him. Was this where Trowa had been standing?  
  
Trying to shut away the terrible images, Quatre turned his eyes towards the floor. He could hear Heero and the others making their way inside. The sounds of life in that place were unnatural. It was a tomb, and Quatre felt the terrible coldness of it seep through him. Something inhuman was coming for him, he just knew it. How long would it be until he was dead too?  
  
He swallowed hard. Like all the others...  
  
A tiny movement down on the floor caught his eye. Quatre blinked out of the daze he'd been in, and he started breathing again. A brief terror went through him. Those cold feelings he'd been having were coming from someone hiding beneath the control panel.   
  
His heart racing, Quatre fell to his knees. He could see a form huddled in the darkness, their breath visible in a fine mist. His flashlight revealed a shivering shock of copper-brown hair. It was Trowa, lying limp against one knee. The flashlight clattered to the floor as Quatre lunged forward, ripping his own helmet off and throwing it so that it skid across the room.  
  
"Trowa! Trowa!" He gathered Trowa into his arms, choking his name into his hair. His breath was shallow against Quatre's neck, but he was still alive. Quatre rubbed his knuckles against Trowa's back, desperately trying to warm the cold body. "Trowa, please wake up..."  
  
The room lit up as Heero and the others hurried inside at Quatre's shouts. Heero was at their side in an instant. "Is he alive?"  
  
As if in response, Trowa moaned, leaning into Quatre. His hand reached up and weakly latched onto the front of Quatre's astrosuit. "Quatre... Heero...?" His voice was raw. Slowly he lifted his head and dark green eyes squinted up at them. "You're here..."  
  
"Yes, we're here," Quatre smiled, relief flooding through him.   
  
"Trowa, what happened?" Heero knelt beside them.  
  
Closing his eyes again in pain, Trowa licked his dry lips. "Red mobile suits... I don't know how many. They..." He paused, gathering his strength. Quatre gently stroked his hair, encouraging him to continue. "They came from behind the mountains. We didn't see them until they were right on top of us."  
  
"Falkner's Scorpios," Heero growled.   
  
"What happened to all the people here?" Quatre asked quietly.  
  
"I don't know... Some of them were burnt to ash during the attack. The coils killed on contact." Trowa winced as he shifted, trying to sit up by himself. "When they burned through here, I was trying to warn the space station of the attack, but I was knocked down. My leg was broken, and I must have passed out..."  
  
Heero looked towards the ground. He was kneeling in a fine black powder. The same powder that had been present throughout the building. He grimaced.   
  
"The space station," Trowa opened his eyes, glazed with pain. "Is it...?"  
  
Quatre nodded silently, his eyes filled with sorrow. "It's been destroyed. We were only able to save Aleta."  
  
Trowa closed his eyes again. "It's a miracle she was spared."  
  
"She's not the only miracle," Quatre's eyes shimmered and his voice trembled. "Thank Allah you survived. I was so afraid..." He hid his face against Trowa's temple, crushing a fierce kiss to the cold skin.  
***  
  
"I'm ready to die, how about you?"  
  
Glancing up at the seemingly bored sounding voice, Zara saw Solo leaning over the back of his seat with his arms folded, looking down at her. He was trying to play it cool, but she could see the quiet fear in his blue eyes. She shook her head without a thought. So much had happened so quickly that she wasn't sure what she was feeling. Her soul was numb.  
  
"I guess it has to do with that guy... Quatre Winner, right?" Solo was almost just talking to himself. "I finally remembered why your name was so familiar. Quatre was gundam pilot 04."  
  
Zara met Solo's gaze with surprise. "He was a gundam pilot?"  
  
"That's what I said," Solo muttered. "I read about all the pilots years ago when I was trying to learn about my father. Quatre piloted the Sandrock gundam, and now he's one of the most powerful men anywhere."  
  
"The Winner Corporation..." Zara's eyes widened. A picture of her place in Falkner's plans was beginning to form in her mind. And she didn't like it.  
  
"Yeah..." Solo's shoulders hunched slightly as he leaned in. "I think Falkner was going to knock off Quatre and take over his little empire."  
  
"Who are you guys?"  
  
At the sound of the soft voice, Zara and Solo turned to find a pair of big blue eyes staring at them from across the aisle. Absorbed in their own concerns, they had almost forgotten about the lavender-haired girl that had recently joined them. Aleta looked from Zara to Solo.  
  
"I'm Zara," was finally offered when Solo remained silent. "This is Solo."  
  
"Oh. My name is Aleta." She looked as though she might burst into tears.  
  
"Umm, don't cry," Zara turned around in her seat. "I'm sure everything's going to alright."   
  
"My Mom's dead. Everything isn't alright." Aleta hunched herself over. "Everyone else can pretend things are okay, but I'm not stupid."  
  
"That's right." Solo almost smiled. "No use trying to delude yourself, that'll only make it worse in the end. We're all screwed, and all we can do is get used to living with it. Or die, it doesn't really matter."  
  
"I'm not ready to die."   
  
Aleta looked back up at Zara's statement. "I guess... I guess you're right, Solo. But I don't want to die yet either. I want to see my father again."  
  
Before Solo could say anything, Zara whipped around to face him, her eyes burning. Back on the Peacemillion, they had overheard Heero and Quatre discussing Milliardo's condition, and it hadn't sounded good. Since then, they'd come to their own conclusions. Zara didn't have to say a word. Those shining, anguished eyes held the threat of certain pain if Solo said anything more. With a disapproving groan, he fell back into his seat.  
  
"What is it?" Aleta frowned.  
  
Quickly composing herself, Zara turned back around to smile gently at her. "Nothing. It's just that, for someone who knows what it's like to lose their mother, Solo can be really insensitive."  
  
"Really?" Aleta's eyes went round, and looked towards Solo, who was sulking down in his seat. He refused to turn around anymore. Then her blue eyes flickered up towards Zara suspiciously. "But at least he's honest."  
  
Back in his seat, Solo opened his eyes, a little surprised.  
  
"There's something wrong with my father isn't there? Is that what you didn't want him to tell me?" Her words were tinged with a bitter despair. "Is my father dead too? Well?"  
  
"No." Zara felt sick.   
  
"But there's something wrong with him?" She looked anxiously from Zara to the back of Solo's seat. "One of you tell me!"  
  
"Just tell her," Solo growled.  
  
"It isn't right for her to hear it from me!" Zara snapped angrily back at Solo. The nausea she was feeling was making her irritable. "Besides, we don't really know anything."  
  
"You called him insensitive, but you're the one who's insensitive!" Aleta cried at amber haired girl. "He knows what it's like to lose his mother, he knows how important family is after something like that!" Finally, tears spilled down her cheeks. "You're so cruel...!"  
  
Zara's jade eyes filled with sorrow. "Maybe you're right. I've never had any parents, so I can't imagine what it's like."  
  
Very still, Aleta stared at Zara. An uncomfortable silence settled on them, and Solo squirmed back in his seat. It might have gone on for a long time, if the shuttle cockpit hadn't been suddenly flung open with a loud bang. Officer Rand came storming out, his eyes wild.  
  
"All of you put your helmets on! We're taking off!"  
  
"What?" Solo shot up in his seat. "Heero and the others aren't back yet!"  
  
There was no reply as Rand had already returned to the cockpit. Around them, the shuttle hummed to life. And above that, they became aware of rising roar. Quickly, they grabbed their helmets started reattaching them.  
  
"What is he doing?" Solo ran towards the front of the shuttle. "We can't just leave them like this!"  
  
Jumping across the seats, Zara looked out one of the windows. Outside was a red blur thanks to the red sand that was now whipping around. Her eyes narrowed in concentration. The storm outside was getting wilder. And the sound... She knew that sound...   
  
"That isn't the storm." Zara mumbled under her breath. "Thats..." Her eyes shot wide open as she caught a glimpse of light that flashed out on the horizon. "That's a mobile suit!"  
  
"What?" Aleta also stood up, only to find herself being dragged off by the wrist. "Ow! What are you doing!?"  
  
"We have to get out of here! Solo!" With Aleta, she ran for the cockpit.   
  
Then there was a loud crack. Aleta screamed as they went flying through the air. There was a searing light as they tumbled back through the shuttle fuselage, and sparks flew all around them. There was red sand everywhere. It flew up like a fountain as they fell into the powder.  
  
What felt like an eternity later, Zara opened her eyes, and realized that she was still alive. She felt bruised, and her helmet was mildly cracked, but otherwise she seemed to be fine. Aching, she sat up, to find herself surrounded with flying sand. She couldn't see a thing.  
  
"Aleta!" She cried.   
  
Somewhere to her right, there was a great blue flash as something exploded. She shielded her face. "Solo!" She scrambled to her feet, swaying indecisively. "Officer Rand! Anybody, is anybody here?"  
  
She was repulsed at the wave of fear that overcame her. She was all alone. "Somebody answer me! Please, don't leave me out here! Solo! Quatre!"  
  
  



	9. Chapter 8

Gundam Apocalypse   
by Maria Rocket  
  
***  
  
Author's Notes: I felt I should mention that the Scorpios used in this fic aren't the same as ones in the Battlefield of Pacifist manga. I decided on the name back when I thought there weren't any Scorpio suits. Oh well, guess that's another big oops in this series for the time being. ^_^;  
  
***  
  
Chapter 8  
  
  
***  
  
A hand caught her wrist, pulling her back. With a gasp, Zara turned around to see someone in a black astrosuit standing there. Through the red sand, and reflection on the surface of his helmet, she barely glimpsed black almond-shaped eyes regarding her in near disbelief.  
  
"What's a child doing down here?"  
  
"Huh?" Zara blinked back the tears that had been threatening to form moments before. Suddenly, she was filled with rage. This had to be one of Falkner's men! "You've killed them!" She cried, hurling herself at him. She managed to punch him once in the gut, and the deep gasp he gave was a strangely satisfying sound.  
  
The stranger lashed out, hitting her hard in the side. With a cry of pain, she fell to the sand. She struggled to move, but it hurt too much. Moving her head, she saw Aleta step up beside him.  
  
"Don't hurt her, Uncle Wufei!"  
  
Wufei looked around in surprise. "Aleta? So you're alive!"  
  
***  
  
Inside the facility, Heero and the others jumped at the sound of an explosion. Trowa winced in pain at the sound. "They've come back."  
  
"Heero, the shuttle!" Quatre cried. In his hands, he gripped the helmet he'd been about to place on Trowa's newly scavenged astrosuit. If he hadn't been occupied supporting Trowa, he would have been running outside now. Zara was calling for him, he could hear her...  
  
He knew he must look as panicked as he felt, because Trowa was watching him curiously. Heero's own eyes widened as the significance of the sound sank in. Then as quickly as the emotion flickered across his face, it disappeared as his eyes narrowed in decision.  
  
"Everyone stay here," Heero ordered. "I'm going to have a look."  
  
Before anyone could argue, he had run off, leaving them all behind.  
  
***   
  
He was in hell.  
  
That's all Solo could think as he saw the burning sparks raining down through the red winds. His body ached from the fall. Wincing, he turned and saw someone nearby, sprawled on the ground.   
  
The helmet was completely cracked open, and there was blood everywhere. A sudden terror overwhelmed him. Shaking, he forced himself up.  
  
"Zara!"  
  
Stumbling over his big clunky astroboots, he scrambled over to the body. It was Officer Rand, staring lifelessly into the storm. Solo's mouth tightened into a grim line. He knew it was wrong to feel relieved, but he was. Zara was still alive.  
  
Behind him, there was a brilliant flash, and more explosions. Standing on weak knees, he squinted into the glare.   
  
In the middle of the blazing remains of the shuttle was a monster. A giant red monster on legs too short for its body, which was hunched and stout. A very long coil extended its body into a slender shape, like an armored snake. A tiny round head turned and scanned the area with burning yellow eyes. Solo held his breath as the Scorpio MD seemed to stare right at him.   
  
Then it turned away and walked two heavy steps before the coils sparked to life. Within moments it was spinning away into the air.   
  
"Solo, is that you!?"  
  
The voice was broken up with static, but Solo spun around instantly. "Zara! Where are you?" He could see her now though, running through the sands. He started running.  
  
He nearly fell over as the girl didn't stop her momentum at all as she embraced him. She was crying and pounding his back with her fist, and he was sure he would pass out again from the abuse any minute if she didn't cool it soon. He was too stunned to move away.  
  
"Who's there?" Over Zara's shoulder, Solo could see two people coming towards them. One in an small astrosuit was obviously Aleta. The other was taller, wearing black. This one, a man he didn't recognize, stopped a few steps before reaching them.  
  
The man was staring at him with wide, shocked dark eyes. "So it is true," he narrowed his eyes as if trying to focus better, and came closer. "You're Duo Maxwell's son, aren't you?"  
  
"Yeah." Solo looked to Zara, who had finally moved away to face their new companion. She had managed to compose herself, but there was nothing she could do to hide the wetness streaking her pale cheeks.   
  
"This is Wufei Chang," Zara explained.   
  
"Gundam Pilot 05," Solo said almost to himself. "What are you doing down here?" He knew the man was now with the Preventers, married to the Preventers Commander even, but anyone who had survived what had gone down on this planet was not above Solo's suspicion.  
  
The man with the obsidian eyes just stared at him for another moment. Then he turned to scowl out at the bloody sands. "I came here at a request from Preventer Barton. He had reason to believe something fishy was going on down here. I was doing reconnaissance of the mountains north of here when we were attacked. I... I just now got back with the dune buggy." He raised an eyebrow. "Now what are you doing here? I've heard some rather unsavory things concerning you. If you have anything to do with this, I'll take you down, no matter whose son you are."  
  
"Wufei!" It was Heero, running towards them in the storm. "So you made it. We found Trowa inside, he's the only one still alive. Anyone still alive out here better follow me before you're all spotted."  
  
"Trowa's alive?" Zara brightened. "Oh, thank goodness. Quatre was so worried."  
  
As if really noticing her for the first time, Wufei looked at Zara. Then he shook his head. "Right. Lead the way Heero." He frowned slightly. "I don't remember the way back too well."  
  
***  
  
Pain blazed through Trowa's leg, despite the medicine Quatre had given him. It was nothing he couldn't handle, though. He had lived through far worse. While Quatre was supporting him, he could stand, and that was good enough for now. He was more concerned about where Heero had gone to. They had to get out while they could still get help.   
  
They all jumped at the sound of boots running in. It was Heero, Wufei, and three kids. He was relieved to see Wufei and Aleta safe, but what was Heero thinking bringing kids down here? Then he realized that the boy could be no one other than Solo. The resemblance to his old friend was just too uncanny. That meant the other girl had to be Zara.   
  
Speaking of resemblances, that girl was definitely one of Quatre's many relatives. But Trowa had a good eye for faces, and she was not any of the many sisters and nieces he had met over the years. Something about her also reminded him strongly of his sister Catherine. It was probably just the hair.  
  
"Wufei, so you're here too?" Quatre said. "What happened out there?"  
  
"Some new mobile suits attacked," Wufei growled. "They just took out your guys' shuttle."  
  
"What!? Then we're stuck here!?" One of the officers yelled.  
  
"Calm down!" Heero warned him. "Wufei tells me there's another way out."  
  
"There's another shuttle pad about a mile off." Wufei told them. "It's hidden away from here, so they probably didn't know about it." Wufei turned to Trowa. "You were right. I found the source in the mountains, just north of here. They were right on top of us."  
  
"That's where the Scorpio went after it attacked us!" Solo jumped in.  
  
"Trowa?" Heero frowned, putting up a hand to silence Solo.  
  
"After you left, Heero," Trowa began, "some sort of signal began interfering with all broadcasts on Luna. It was weak at first, but the signal has grown increasingly stronger. By now, it's probably causing problems throughout the entire Earthsphere. I was able to narrow down the source in the vicinity of Mars, and left with Wufei to investigate. I also attempted to contact you and Quatre, but I wasn't sure if you would receive anything through the static."  
  
"It was enough," Heero said. "So I'm assuming you and Wufei came up here, and found the source of the interference was coming from somewhere in the Martian mountains."  
  
Trowa nodded. "Yes. I suspected from the start that the MS fleet you sighted on the Moon might have something to do with it, but I didn't want to raise alarm." His face twisted. "I should have reacted sooner."  
  
"It wasn't your fault, Trowa." Quatre said softly. "You didn't know."  
  
"But now we know exactly where in the mountains the signal is coming from." Wufei said with a note triumph. "I finally have the coordinates. They're hiding in a valley back there. Big enough to fit several fleets of MS."  
  
"Don't sound so happy about that, Wufei," Quatre said, looking a bit paler.  
  
"At least now we know where to find the bastards," Trowa muttered. "So, now what do we do?"  
  
Solo broke in again. "Maybe if me and Zara used Apocalypse and Persephone, we'd be able to-"  
  
"Absolutely not!" Heero rounded on him. "You two aren't getting back in those suits!" His hard stare was enough to momentarily stun Solo. Then he turned it on Quatre and Trowa. "Wufei and I will check out this valley. You two take the others back to the Preventers ship. You can check back for us in a few hours."  
  
"No!" Solo seemed to gather all his courage to face Heero. "You have to let me help! I need to do something!"  
  
"It's too dangerous. You'll only get in the way." Heero said grimly.   
  
"Please." Solo pleaded. "Give me a chance to make up for what I've done. I- I can't make it right again, but let me do *something*!"  
  
Heero considered him sternly for a moment. Then he shook his head. "Alright."  
  
"If Solo's going, then so am I!" Zara stepped up.  
  
Trowa saw Quatre react as if he were going to protest, but Heero spoke up first.  
  
"No." He said firmly. "I refuse to be responsible for anyone else where we're going. You'll leave with the others, is that understood?"  
  
"Please, Zara. I have to do this." Solo said quietly.  
  
"Zara." Quatre sounded like he might start pleading too. Trowa again found himself wondering just who the girl was. The look of worry she was giving Solo at the moment was one he was just too familiar with.   
  
She glanced from Solo to Quatre, then back again, looking particularly torn. Solo unfastened his helmet, and reached into his suit. He pulled out what looked like a silver chain, and pushed it into her hand. When he let go of it, Trowa could see on the chain, a silver cross.  
  
"Don't give us a hard time. Look, I'll be wanting that back, so keep it safe, would'ya?" Solo glared at her as he refastened his helmet roughly. "God, I think you're starting to get all clingy on me."  
  
Clutching the cross tightly, Zara's emerald eyes flared. "Clingy!?" She marched off and went to help support Trowa's other side. "Well, go get killed for all I care!"  
  
Heero gave his head a half shake as he turned away. "Quatre, six hours, tops. We're just going to have a look around. If possible, send for backup. Tell someone we can trust."  
  
"Roger." Quatre nodded. "Be careful, all of you."  
  
"Don't get killed." Aleta said softly, giving Zara a brief sour glance.  
  
  



End file.
